Pearl Street Mall
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The Pearl Street Mall (also referred to as Pearl Street, Downtown Boulder or just simply Downtown) is a four block pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado. The pedestrian area stretches from the 1100 to the 1400 blocks of Pearl Street (inclusive) and is home to a number of locally-owned and operated businesses and restaurants as well as the Boulder County Courthouse.
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[edit] About
The Pearl Street Mall is a popular destination for tourists visiting Boulder and for students attending the nearby University of Colorado at Boulder. Unlike many shopping districts, the mall is made up almost entirely of locally owned businesses. It is also home to much of Boulder's nightlife. During the summer months, Pearl Street Mall is the stage for a number of street performers (or Buskers), including musicians. It is also a favorite gathering spot for many of the Boulder's homeless.
The Pearl Street Mall is filled with public art, including numerous fountains and sculptures as well as a sandbox for children, a stylized map of Boulder County and a number of small gardens which are planted with a variety of flowers and trees, most notably tulips in the spring.
The Mall is at the heart of downtown Boulder, in the western part of present-day Boulder. The area is a historic district and many of the buildings are among the oldest in Boulder. The Boulder County Courthouse is located in the 1300 block on the north side of the mall. Though the courthouse no longer houses the actual courts for Boulder County, it is still home to some of the administrative offices for the County.
The Pearl Street Mall is the venue for the Stampede on Pearl Street: a pep rally held each Friday night before a home Colorado Buffaloes football game. This “tradition” was instituted by University of Colorado Athletic Director Mike Bohn and the Golden Buffalo Marching Band in 2005, with the intention of increasing community support for university athletics in the wake of a series of scandals involving the Athletics Program at CU.
[edit] History
The Pearl Street Mall was constructed between June, 1976 and August, 1977 and was officially dedicated on August 6, 1977.[1]
[edit] Trivia
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During the series of snowstorms in 2006-2007, the first snowstorm covered the mall with a couple of feet of snow. On December 20, many cross country skiers decided to embark to Pearl Street Mall during the evening. From about 6 PM - Midnight local time, Nordic skiers were flocking around Downtown Boulder.
Scenes from the movie Catch and Release, which was set in Boulder, were filmed on the Pearl Street Mall in July of 2005.
Church Street in Burlington, Vermont was structured by the same designers of the Pearl Street Mall, and hold uncanny likeness.
The traffic signal at Broadway and Pearl was the first in the U.S. to feature a visible countdown timer for pedestrians to cross the street safely.
[edit] References
- History of the Downtown Boulder Area (March 13, 2006). Retrieved on September 11, 2007.
This is a common misconception. The original 'Boulder Mall Design Team consisted of three firms, Communcation Arts Inc (Boulder) Everett Ziegel Associates (Boulder) and Watertown MA-based Sasaki Associates. None of these firms, nor anyone in their employ was involved in the design, planning or redevelopment of the Burlington VT project. A year after the completion of the Pearl Street project (it opened on the 5th of August 1977) we heard that a large contingent of "visitors" from Burlington were on the Mall taking pictures. Lo and behold, a couple of years later the Burlington project emerged bearing an uncanny resemblance to the design character of Boulder's beloved street. I was one of the designers on the original team and know this for a fact.
There are those that say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Others contend it's the sincerest form of plagiarism.
