Vanderbilt Ave has been gentrifying extremely fast in the last few years.

It's becoming a truly hip street, with bars, restaurants, boutiques, a chic hairdresser and more and more foot traffic. We used to be able to wander out at night and go eat in a local restaurant without a reservation, but that doesn't work anymore.

Besides fewer tables for us locals--really not a big deal given how often we eat out at a chic time, meaning after 6pm--the impact has been mixed. Rent has gone through the roof, the amenities are geared towards well-off people and so over time this neighborhood will become whiter and whiter.

The good has been that it's fun to live here, for as long as we can afford it, that is! The merchants, together with various community organizations, lobbied for a median with trees and a bicycle path, reducing traffic significantly. And this month they have arranged that Vanderbilt be shut down to traffic entirely every Sunday in June. The sense of community and energy is just amazing--everyone is out on the street, hanging out, chatting, playing, offering or selling cheap food.

We've now had two awesome Sunday afternoons. Last Sunday Ruby helped her friend Sade make lemonade for her lemonade stand. And she couldn't be kept away from the hula hoops and other kid activities. This past Sunday she played a ton with EJ--they hula hooped in front of our local bike store and ate free hot dogs (Ruby had a boca dog, the veggie version). And they enjoyed a free yoga class for kids that our friend Brett gave (two days a week one of Brett's kids, Gael, hangs out with Ruby and Marie). It was a cute sight.

Today we were hanging out on our stoop, waiting for David to come home. I was talking with Ruby about how we took back our street last weekend. She remembered the yoga and we agreed on a new slogan: "We took back our streets for yoga!"