Today we went old school and headed to D&K for breakfast. It was as good as it always is, and we wandered on our way through the Borough Of West Chester.
I have always liked West Chester. What I don’t like however is all the infill development. Why? Because what is going up now is not in the least complementary of the borough, which has little brick houses of more of a colonial style through to grand Victorian mansard roofs and gardens with wrought iron gates.
See above. Another Kahnification of West Chester (blue and new going up to the right of Kildare’s). That used to be the Mosteller Department Store which truthfully from it’s early history morphed into something quite unattractive. But what is replacing it is also unappealing to me because it just doesn’t jive with the area. I am not saying people have to build imitation Williamsburg, but if they are going modern, why does it have to be ummm…jarring and unattractive and out of size and scale with the surroundings?
I really started to explore West Chester in the 1980s when one of my best friends came out to West Chester to go to college. I used to visit her and explore. In those days I did not have a car so often I took a train to Paoli and a cab into West Chester if I could not get a ride. (I will note where you wait for cabs on the westbound side of Paoli station is still creepy.)
West Chester is one of those towns where I always find something to look at. Now these are newer townhouses in the next photo, and I actually don’t mind the design even if I don’t quite get the height and bunker like quality of the wall in front:
GPS took us down a street that really wasn’t a street to me, but the rear of a development. Here I saw once again what I dislike about most townhouse developments:
This is an actual street and look how narrow. And Look at SUVs and trucks NOT being able to fit in their own driveway. To me this looks like a street in Sea Isle or Ocean City, NJ.
One of the things I also have always liked about West Chester are the alleys and side streets. Always something cool to see there as well. A lot of old stable structures still exist, among other things.
West Chester is just fun to wander.
It’s also fun to check out old postcards to see what has changed and to see what still exists. Take for example (and thanks for rambling with me):
