Broad Avenue Gallery Walk

Last night I went to the art gallery walk on the 2500 block of Broad Avenue. For those not familiar with the area, Broad used to be the street that ran from East Parkway to the beginning of the freeway (Sam Cooper Blvd.) that turns into the I-40. But since they extended Sam Cooper Blvd. all the way to East Parkway, Broad is now a somewhat-forgotten street in between Summer and Sam Cooper. However, it is experiencing a comeback, with developers seeing potential in the area, people moving into residential units, and new art galleries opening. Last night they had their first-ever art gallery walk, with the galleries staying open until 8 and serving wine and cheese, so I decided to check it out.

My favorite of the art exhibits I saw was one featuring comic book art, at Adam Shaw studio. Here are links to some of the artists:

Great exhibit! Muley the Mule rules.

I wandered through a few other galleries as well. I spent a few minutes talking to the people at Archicast, who do architectural casting and repair statues. Lots of statues and pillars and columns in their shop. I also caught the artwork of Nashville artist Ben Vitualla, who seems to have an obsession with targets, at a gallery called Material.

Elsewhere on the street, Broadway Pizza is still open. They’ve been there since 1977 and it looks like they haven’t changed their decor since the day they opened – but I like that, reminds me of pizza parlors I went to when I was a kid. I’ve lived in Memphis 19 years and have not yet tried their pizza. Next time I go to one of the gallery walks (I’m assuming there will be more) I’m gonna have to order a pizza to take home.

I also walked through The Beer Joint, a dive bar on Broad that has been there forever. It’s currently being renovated, and according to a sign on the window, will reopen as “The Cove.” I immediately loved the place – dark, pictures of pirate ships, nautical decor. I spent some time talking to the owner, and he said he plans on retaining as much of the funkiness of the place as possible. He told me the renovation will take a while but the bar will reopen sometime in 2007. Keep an eye on this one – I have a feeling, if done right, this could become THE hip dive-bar hangout in the years to come. (Although, I should point out, I have absolutely zero qualifications to tell anyone where the “hipster” hangouts are in Memphis – look to Richens or RachelAndTheCity for that.) When I was in there, I kinda sorta got a little of the same feeling I get when I hang out at Earnestine & Hazel’s, or The Buccaneer, which is a good sign.

The Beer Joint was one of only three or four bars in Memphis that was open before they passed the law that beer sales stop at 3 AM – so they were “grandfathered in” and could serve 24/7. Since they’re changing the name and closing for renovations, I’m not sure they’ll be able to keep their grandfathered status (and they may not want to – the owner told me he’s going for a different clientele this time around).

And there were so many storefronts just waiting for something cool to happen. I walked past a pool room that appeared to be closed, and wished someone would reopen it.

As I walked, I thought to myself, Broad Avenue could turn into something similar to Adams Avenue in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego. For those of you who haven’t been to SD, Adams is a four-lane road that runs east-west. It isn’t heavily traveled, because most people use two other roads, Washington Avenue and University Avenue, to get where they’re going. But for those who know it’s there, Adams is filled with unique and funky antique shops, art galleries, coffeehouses, dark little bars, bookstores, ethnic restaurants, and such. Broad is a long way away – again, it’s still in the very early stages of its comeback – but I can see it happening in ten years’ time.

Not sure if they’ll do these gallery walks on a monthly basis, but next time they have one, it’ll be worth your time to go.