But, as we were walking out, we both noticed that the street was happening. There were people in the Kaldi's, a bar around the corner and it felt like a city all of a sudden.

So the lingering question was if this is just a destination spot on the weekends, or is this place becoming a neighborhood again?

Not to be smitten with the Friday night rush, I had to visit this formerly lonely part of the Central West End when it's slower: the weekend mornings.

I decided to take a walk during the day to see what is happening on the block of Laclede west to Sarah and then West Pine back to Vandeventer.

West Pine Boulevard is a Central West End street that has seen a lot of change in the last ten years. There is a lot to be hopeful for.

The street itself, a continuation of Pine Street which ends around Wells Fargo/Harris Stowe University to the east, starts at Vandeventer Avenue and terminates at Lindell Boulevard after a brief jog through Forest Park.

The section between Vandeventer and North Sarah especially, has seen a lot of development in recent years. This one block stretch of West Pine is just that, a one block stretch as it dead ends at North Sarah and then picks up again west of North Sarah after a dead end.

There are lots and lots of new apartments in this part of town. You know what residences bring? People. You know what makes a city a city? Lots of people walking around and hanging out and spending their money and time close to where they live.

That's exactly what I discovered on my walk. People everywhere, jogging, walking dogs, yakking on phones, holding hands. This part of the city has people in it now. It didn't used to when I first moved to St. Louis. Look closely at the photos...there are people in them.

Now what would any blog post be without a quick look at what others have written about the area. Good ole NextSTL popped up with this fantastic, short of scathing review of the new construction in the area from Michael Allen. While this 2014 take was focused on IKEA and the suburbanization of an intersection of our city, Here's a couple excerpts from what Allen called "Nowhere City" back in 2014.