A little history for readers from out of state: The town of Columbia is a planned community, which takes up a good chunk of Howard County, MD, located in the central area of the state. It was planned to keep residences and buisinesses in clusters, or villages.
Much of the planning was geared towards the point of view of the residents, in that they shouldn’t have to deal with the commercial parts of town in their drives through the neighborhood. When they are home, they should feel like they are in a town-like setting. The asthetic of Columbia calls for most of its retail areas to be grouped together and to be effectively not seen from the road and certainly not seen from residential areas. (Though not relevant to my story, you should know that much of the planning included adding pleasing asthetic features to the landscape. There were lakes that were built and many new varieties off trees were introduced to a landscape that was formerly agricultural.)
What has always frustrated visitors from out of town is the difficulty in finding a gas station. Gas stations, retail enterprises with the odor of industry, were the ultimate things to hide in Columbia. Nobody wants to see them, right?
For residents it’s generally not too much of a problem becasue they know where the gas stations are, but for outsiders it is an annoyance and it is one of the first things that many outsiders will talk about if asked about Columbia.
As an example, I have always mentioned the one pictured today. It’s located in a very busy part of town, next to the mall and right on the main road. However, it’s about 10 feet below grade, it’s not accessible without turning onto a side street, and it has an odd skylight covering so that if you could see the area from the road you are still prevented from seeing the pumps and thus figuring out that it’s a gas station.
Desipite all of those things, and its higher than average prices, this station hung on for decades. It couldn’t have done that anywhere else.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Jess // Nov 3, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Michael Chabon has an interesting essay about growing up in Columbia called “Maps and Legends.” It used to be on the web but I think it’s been published in a book since then and taken off the Internet. It’s an interesting read, though.
2 Trig // Nov 3, 2009 at 10:31 AM
I think in Philadelphia, they have the opposite theory…
3 Jeff // Nov 3, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Yeah, Philly and Columbia are about as opposite as two areas can be. The planners of Columbia would not have approved of the 700 level.
Also of note, for those interested, I found the article Jess was referring to.
http://www.america.gov/st/arts-english/2008/May/20080625202302eaifas0.7703211.html
4 Jess // Nov 3, 2009 at 11:32 AM
Jeff, between that and finding the Beaver Valley nuclear plant information last week, I think I may have to hand the mantle of World’s Best Googler over to you. I hang my head in shame.
But, good article, huh?
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