The streets of East Aurora

For my blog I decided to go someplace that I knew, but never really looked closely at. I went to Main Street in East Aurora. I have lived in that area my whole life and can't count the number of times I have either walked or driven down the main street, but by actually taking my time and observing it, I saw more than I ever really had in the past. The whole street is really kind of long for a commercial area and its almost broken up into sections. The first section is a little more crowded with older buildings. It seems like the type of section that you would walk with someone at night to look at the shops. They are all either made of brick or wood. The buildings are all close together and mixed. There are some clothing shops, a bookstore, a music store, a coffee house, cute restaurants, and old fashioned movie theater, and a five and dime type of store. There are no law firms or doctors offices in this area. Some have been there for decades while others are new. The five and dime store has been there since 1930. The theater only shows two shows a night and it has been restored but always to look classic and traditional. The more new stores tend to come and go, but each has the same theme. They are all crafty, type shops where you find one of a kind objects by artisans. There are no chain stores along the first part of Main street. There is also a small portion of a brick road that serves as a historical monument. There are sidewalks along both sides of the streets lined with older styled telephone poles, that they decorate during the holidays. The sidewalks are also lined with trees that were planted, and those are also decorated with lights during the holidays. Even the garbage bins are hand crafted by local artisans, with quotes on each, making them seem old and historical. The benches are all either iron or wood. From this part of the street you definitely get a sense of history and how they are trying to maintain that image. An interesting thing that E.A. does in that they individually paint all of the fire hydrants into characters from Fisher-Price because it is the hometown of the company. I always wonder who actually goes around and does those. They are also starting to put up painted horses like the fire hydrants, randomly around town, but those are different themes. The second half of main street is more modern and commerical. That is where you will find the doctors offices and chain restaurants as well as gas stations and things of that nature. There are still some locally owned, cute store mixed in but that's where the majority of the town goes to get their basics. There are also sidewalks on both sides of the street here. The benches are also still either wood or iron but the stores and much more new. This is also the area where many houses that were lived in were turned in offices. I know that E.A. has to give permission to a lot of companies that want to move into town, because they do not want to take away from their cute, old, historical image. The houses that are on main street are grand and beautiful. They are all maintained and kept up because I really don't believe that E.A. would allow them to have un-kept lawns or garbage floating around because it would ruin the cute image. I think that this town wants people who live there or visit to feel like its a close knit community where its safe to walk the streets and its a place to buy classic things.