Downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania

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Downtown Altoona is the cultural and commercial center of the historic railroad city of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Much of the downtown area is listed in the national registry of historic places[1]. Popular landmarks include the Mishler Theatre, the Penn Alto building (formerly the Penn Alto Hotel), the Gable's Building, City Hall, the Cathedral, and Eleventh Avenue itself. The Jaffa Mosque, one of the largest mosques in Pennsylvania, is also located in downtown Altoona.

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, located in downtown Altoona

1 Downtown Boundaries
2 Features of the Downtown
3 Misconceptions
4 Penn State Presence
5 References
6 See also

[edit] Downtown Boundaries

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Unlike most major cities, the exact boundaries of the downtown are not agreed on, since there are no defining features of the city that would divide the downtown from other parts of the city. Many residents conservatively define the boundaries as 10th avenue, 13th avenue, 18th street, and 11th street, since that is the urban/commercial core of the downtown. Those boundaries are 6th Avenue (and also the 500 blocks of 12th and 13th streets and the 1200 block of 5th avenue), 16th avenue to 16th street, then 14th avenue to 18th street, also 4th street, and Route 36 as it changes from 18th street to Union Avenue, to Broad and Beale Avenues, to 24th street, including landmarks such as the Altoona Hospital and the Jaffa Mosque. A slightly more expanded definition also includes the Altoona Area School District main campus, stretching up to 3rd avenue from 11th street to 19th street, because those are parts of "original Altoona", it includes the entire "school zone" as part of downtown Altoona. The most expanded definition stretches up to 3rd avenue, to 31st street, to North 8th street (in the Juniata section), and to 20th avenue. That definition is mostly used by tourists and has no official merit.

The surrounding neighborhoods are Fairview, "east" Logantown, Dutch Hill, the Fifth Ward, the Broad Avenue district (24th street and points south), and the area surrounding the Bon Secur hospital campus. The areas near the downtown boundaries are transitionary, this can be seen as one part of the downtown is nicknamed "lower Fairview" due to its residential nature and transition into the true low-density Fairview neighborhood.

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[edit] Features of the Downtown

Like with a traditional city layout, the downtown is centrally located with signifficant development in all directions from the downtown. The downtown's importance has diminished with the closing of many landmark stores, the closing of many industries in or near the downtown, and the expansion of the city's commercial suburbs, however downtown Altoona remains important to the city's economy. While retail has decreased, there are still very few office vacancies or residential vacancies.

The commercial core of the downtown includes many multistory residential, commercial, and mixed-use facilities designed in a turn of the century neo-romanesque style. A typical feature of a building in Altoona is an exceptionally high ceiling, causing the buildings to stand taller than would be expected based on the amount of floor space. These high ceilings are either traditional tin or plaster ceilings, although sometimes a drop ceiling is placed over the ceiling. Outside of the commercial core exist a mosaic of multistory commercial structures, mixed use facilities, single story commercial structures, apartment buildings, multi-unit housing, and single-family homes. The density of the downtown neighborhoods far exceed that of the rest of the city.

One unique little known fact is that the Texas Hot Dog was originally created in downtown Altoona in 1918, although the Paterson, New Jersey Texas Hot Dog location, which opened in 1924, is more famous.

Downtown Altoona, like many center city districts in the region, is a mixture of landmark buildings, museums, shopping destinations, novelty stores, parks, offices, apartments, and urban-style housing, which is recognized by the structural similarities to Victorian or Edwardian mansions, but built very narrow and tall with little to no space between the two structures. These are sometimes used as double or triple family apartments or even converted into commercial space. One unique feature of the downtown is that the two halves are more connected by pedestrian footbridges or underpasses than by automobile overpass bridges or underpasses. This is a testimonial to Altoona's history as a pedestrian-oriented city.

There are several sections of the downtown, the central business district, the Margaret Avenue Industrial Area, the Jaffa Mosque district, the Altoona Hospital complex, the Altoona Area School District main campus, the Little Italy district, the "lower Fairview" section, and the Branch Avenue industrial area (which stretches to 6th avenue). Often when locals talk of "downtown", they usually mean only the central business district.

[edit] Misconceptions

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Many people believe that the downtown is "dead" because of the decline in retail since the 1960s. However, the success of recent revitilization efforts contradicts that notion. While the downtown is suffering many of the typical problems of a rust belt city, it is no worse off than a typical industry-based city. Although some businesses have been closing, there have been many reports of new businesses opening.

[edit] Penn State Presence

Penn State Altoona has bought several downtown buildings, including the former Playhouse Theater building, the six-story Penn Furniture building, and the former WRTA building. Penn State Altoona's downtown facilities are actually not very far from where they originated. The presence is most noticeable with many of the businesses near the area where Penn State Altoona's downtown facilities are and the presence of a Blue Lot near the Wolf Court building offering three hours of free parking.