The Bohemian Way

As you all know, i am the photography editor for the Torch. Today i was assisting one of my photographers on an assignment. Mohammad Cheetany, the beautiful man, was this photographer.

The adventure began as any adventure would in downtown CR. We parked by the candy store and wandered around. Our mission was to find New Bohemia. That’s was our destination. The problem was, we didn’t have any idea where it was. So we ended up just wandering around the downtown district, discovering the new parking meters, chasing geese, and waiting for a 238457023948572049875 mile long train to pass– and then back up–looking for something that wasn’t there.

new parking meters!

Chasing Geese

57948365093485093475903847 mile long train

that isn't even the whole thing

ghosties

We gave up and entered the candy store to purchase some sweets. It was going to be dark soon so the photos would be no good. We gave one last attempt and asked the candy store lady where it was. After purchasing some chocolate frogs, giant sweet-tarts, and roadkill gummies, she wrote out a map that lead right to it! The only thing she got wring was 4th street. There is no 4th street in downtown CR, only train tracks where the road would go! So we took third instead and ran right smack into New Bohemia.

candy lady's map

This place is awesome. Seriously legit. The very first thing i saw was a GIANT mural on the side of a building. It was so cool! We pulled into the mural’s parking lot and when we got out of the car, some dude asked us if we wanted to buy his dog (Uhm…no?). So we took photos of this awesome mural (shown below) and of this sign that said “NO PARKING EXCEPT FOR BOB.” Radical right?

Poser

poserr

frightening...

giant sweet tart

hi bob

So after that little scary and exciting adventure, we ventured down Third Street and walked into an open building. Here, a woman was organizing Occupy Cedar Rapids, an Iowa version of Occupy Wall Street. Inside, there were posters like the one below and a lot of hand made posters. They meet everyday at 6:30 PM at 1209 3rd st. SE. You can also find them on Facebook <<<That is a link right to their Facebook page. I plan on attending one of these meetings. I want to get involved! Less than the top 1% of the US population controls 90% of the US money. Not cool!

CR

i made a new friend

Occupy Cedar Rapids headquarters

official logo for Occupy Cedar Rapids

So after speaking to a rep for Occupy Cedar Rapids, and the last original Bohemian on the New Bohemia board for Mo’s story, we departed to explore more. We found a delicious looking eatery before we ended our adventure and headed home.

Everyone says that downtown CR is dead, but i disagree. I look at New Bohemia, a place i didn’t even know existed, and all of the inspired people in it and i know we aren’t dead. There is some awesome stuff and places in downtown CR, and i encourage you to look beyond 1st Ave. New Bohemia goes from 8th St. to 14th St. with about a three-block radius with 3rd Ave in the middle. I didn’t even know that downtown had more than 8 streets! Go there, get involved, help revive downtown CR.

Sarah =]