I still maintain that Downtown will reach its peak in a few year’s time, and people, particularly the young, creative class, will start looking for new places to reside. And while I believe Hillyard is probably the most logical “next big thing,” Garland is not far behind.

I mean, yes, first of all it does have a milk bottle building like downtown has. Difference here is that there’s actually something interesting inside — all respect to the Democrats I believe reside in the downtown bottle. Not that The Milk Bottle is a great diner, but they do have decent shakes. And how often do you get to order a shake inside a milk bottle?

All that aside, I feel the structure kinda does a good job at representing the quirkiness that is Garland. You have your galleries, bars, diners, coffee shops, thrift stores, etc. all down the four block main drag, all central, all accessible, and all interesting enough. Nobody in their right mind would say Garland was gentrified, and that’s probably a good thing.

Add events like Garland Days, and the relative proximity to both Downtown and North Point, and Garland really does offer quite a bit of a similar feel to Hillyard. It feels a bit like what I imagine Spokane of yore was like, with strange little people running strange little businesses, unaware what’s happening around them in the “real” world.

And that’s actually kinda cool.