my kingdom for a metro

Hartford Metro Map, originally uploaded by jamesplankton.

CT- and DC-based designer Brian Cook has conjured up a Metro for Hartford, if only on paper. The Orange and Red lines intersect at the Capitol, with major hubs at the Old State House and in the West End, while the Yellow line loops around the Downtown area and into the North and South Ends. Other lines crisscross the city and dip into the suburbs, east of the river and even BDL. It looks great on paper, makes complete sense, and we salivate at the thought of such a thing coming to fruition.

Subway maps from NYC and Paris are all the rage in decor magazines and catalogs, and a print of this is going to look great on our wall… and yours. Size is 27″ x 16.5″ and all post-printing proceeds go to ConnectiKids.

More here.

downtown dress shop to be a grocery-deli

When they put a grocery store where a dress shop used to be, you will not be required to dress up when shopping there. Unless you are Taylor Swift.

The Hartford Business Journal reports that the former Niro dress shop, at 241 Asylum Ave., will soon be the site of a new grocery/deli. Unlike Rose Gourmet or Max Bibo Deli, the hours for shop will be more amenable for downtown residents and evening visitors instead of just lunching business-folk.

We find it interesting that it will be across the street from the Hartford 21 storefront that Northland outfitted to be a grocery store on spec a few years ago, that still sits empty. So many of the Northland storefronts (Goodwin Hotel shops, Hartford 21, the North side of Pratt St) have sat empty for years while the properties across the street from them are occupied. Makes you wonder how hard they tried to fill them.

Taylor Swift photo via.

no ifs, ands or butt uglies

Rumor has it that the city’s ugliest landmark, aka “The Butt Ugly Building”, may be coming down sooner rather than later.  Never has the phrase “good riddance to bad rubbish” been more appropriate. This eyesore has plagued the downtown landscape long enough. In fact, we have a suggestion for how to take it down in spectacular style: load it up with all the RiverFest fireworks (rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday, BTW), toss a match on the top and raise a glass to its demise.

We were going to post a picture of the building as a reminder but decided not to blight our blog with it’s ugly façade.  More coverage here and here.