[kcexpress69]

Little Rock......Stop # 4 on my trip


Ok guys!! You know......you know I was just kidding, right?? About going to West Memphis, right?.........RIGHT??? Do you think I would have had any credibility left on this page if I pulled a move like that and skipped Little Rock all together? Of course not!! This was actually the main reason why I came down here in the first place. I can't say that I've ever seen a Little Rock thread, so I took liberties and came down here..just because I love you guys and.........well...whatever!! I walked several miles, got very sunburned, and regret none of it!! This place is neat!! So here we go!!

These pictures I took were across the river in North Little Rock, I decided to save them for this thread.

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When I stepped off the trolley, I was at the river market. It is well kept, and there were quite a few things going on.

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If you came here looking for grit, you're probably going to be disappointed. Even the alleys were pretty decent!!
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It helps to find a good parking garage, especially one with an elevator!!

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Little Rock's tallest on the left!!

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The Arkansas Statehouse!! I'm sorry, but this was as close to it as I got. I't was kind of a ways away and I walked about a mile out of my way to get there!!

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I also have to apologize if I took too many pictures of the same skyscrapers!! I was trying to get different angles. Plus, I was trying to nab a fewer of the smaller, older ones.

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The original Faulkner County Courthouse

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The original US Courthouse

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After that long walk I finally made it back to the River Market. I was getting pretty worn out!!

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Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!! Food at last!!

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I decided to quit walking and I got back on the trolley!!

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The William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library

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If I remember correctly, this is the original statehouse. Not a great shot and a poor reflection!!

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One last shot of downtown as I headed back across the river to North Little Rock to get my car!!

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I couldn't leave Little Rock without paying homage to the Central High School National Historic Site. When this high school was built, It was the most expensive, beautiful, and largest high school in the nation. (1925?). It became one of the main cornerstones in the civil rights movement following the Brown vs. Board of Education. Schools all over the nation were desegregating and allowing African Americans to integrate with the white students. However, in 1957, many residents in the City of Little Rock, with the aid of the govornor, remained hostile to allow nine African Americans students inside Central High. With the aid of President Eisenhower, the National Guard, accompanied the "Little Rock Nine" and eventually they were able to get their education despite being harassed on a daily basis. Although the place is a historic site, the school is still used as a regular public high school.

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Well, that's gonna do it for this thread, I hope you all enjoyed. It had been a busy day, but I had to keep moving to try to grab another city!!

For the record, I did NOT go to West Memphis!! Sorry if I disappointed any of you!! :haha:

[flar]

Another excellent tour!

Little Rock looks decent, I didn't know it had any skyscrapers.

[ColDayMan]

Thanks!

[Evergrey]

nice pics... now I'm craving some TCBY frozen yogurt!

[Shasta]

I've been to Little Rock a few times and am always pleasantly surprised. There's a huge-sprawling office park area out West of downtown too and a fairly decent zoo!

[denveraztec]

Wow! Some very handsome historic structures and great blend of new buildings! Great shots, thank you for the post!

[Top Of The Park]

Decent looking skyline....

[oldmanshirt]

Dang, I'm impressed.

[theWatusi]

suprising

[urbanactivistTX]

Another excellent job kc! Thanks for doing my home metro justice!!!!

Wow, call me crazy but nobody had a banjo in those pictures, and it looks like everybody is wearing shoes!

[Ex-Ithacan]

Heckuva tour kcex. Very thorough visit to downtown and I like the info (and Central High shots). Little Rock has quite the skyline for its size. I appreciate all the suffering you endured to get us theses pics.;)

Best little Rock tour I've seen. Thanks.

But I gotta say I was looking forward to west memphis. :(


:D

[MayDay]

Sooooo, what are they calling TCBY Tower nowadays?

[10101000]

enjoyed your slide

[LAsam]

Wow, never really knew they had that decent of a skyline! Thanks for sharing!

[Thundertubs]

Nice work!

We definately don't see enough Little Rock. I'm enjoying this Arkansas adventure. What's next? Russellville? Fort Smith?

[wdunlap]

TCBY is now the Metropolitan National Bank Building. Also, that beautiful old courthouse is the Pulaski County Courthouse.

[LSyd]

great pics. i was there last summer and was also pleasantly surprised (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=138932)

now that i look at it more closely, the old federal courthouse there looks similar to the one in Columbia, South Carolina (which is now city hall.)

-

[ShadowMaster]

Splendid tour! Little Rock is a city that give little attention but what a way to view the city! Quality images too, kcexpress69!

[stepper77]

You certainly blew away any misconceptions I had about Little Rock. It is a very nice city with A LOT of great buildings (new & old). Thanks!

[skyline]

Very nice and clean looking mid sized city! Good job!

[Atlantan]

Great looking skyline. It ranks up there with Des Moines as far as small city skylines go.

[kcexpress69]

Thanks for all the nice replies so far everyone!! If you have covered my past threads, you will have probably figured out by now that this is the largest city that I have covered to date. For me, this was certainly one of the most challenging. I have been so used to covering cities that were the size of Jefferson City, that I had to wonder if I was up to the task!! Since I have a fetish for older commercial buildings, I had to skip some of the smaller ones so I could give the larger ones more exposure. Since I was on limited time, I regret not being able to stay longer to take more pictures. I would have loved to go into the neighborhoods and take pictures of houses which is something I like to do when I'm trying to showcase a city. I would almost have to say that cities the size of Little Rock almost need to be covered by more than one thread.

So many people on this thread have been surprised that Little Rock has a larger downtown than expected. I'm not sure if that's because Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas or what. The city has approximately 185,000 people, and close to 700,000 in the metro area. It's continuing to grow, although not as fast as the Northwest Arkansas region. As I said before, the downtown has been well kept, with very little grit, which I can't say for very many cities.

[KCgridlock]

These are great. Little Rock seems so hard to get to. Did you drive straight there from KC? How long did it take?

Tulsa and Little Rock on are my short list of weekend trips, so it's nice to see some photos of it. I have never been.

Your photo thread looks good LSD.

By the way, it may be just me, but I don't like heritage trolleys. They are ok, but after you ride them once, they seem slow, uncomfortable and pretty much worthless. I would much rather have a modern street car like what Portland has. But that's just me.

Thanks for the pics!

[kcexpress69]

These are great. Little Rock seems so hard to get to. Did you drive straight there from KC? How long did it take?

Tulsa and Little Rock on are my short list of weekend trips, so it's nice to see some photos of it. I have never been.

Your photo thread looks good LSD.

By the way, it may be just me, but I don't like heritage trolleys. They are ok, but after you ride them once, they seem slow, uncomfortable and pretty much worthless. I would much rather have a modern street car like what Portland has. But that's just me.

Thanks for the pics!

Thanks for the comments, KCGrid!! Little Rock was the pinnicle of a 3 day tour covering several cities. This was stop #4. Check out Springfield, MO, Conway, and North Little Rock.

I agree with you about the trolley. It's not a subsitute for light rail. It's definately a tourist attraction. If you noticed in my pictures, ridership was moderately low. It only cost a dollar for each ride, but to park in the parking lot, it cost me five bucks. :koko: It's a neat concept, just not a practical one for Little Rock.

[vertex]

Nice. This might seem weird, but it reminds me a lot of the way Austin was about 25 years ago.

[DetroitSky]

Great tour!

[urban_encounter]

enjoyed the tour of LR.

well done..

:cheers:

[urbanactivistTX]

These are great. Little Rock seems so hard to get to. Did you drive straight there from KC? How long did it take?

Tulsa and Little Rock on are my short list of weekend trips, so it's nice to see some photos of it. I have never been.

Your photo thread looks good LSD.

By the way, it may be just me, but I don't like heritage trolleys. They are ok, but after you ride them once, they seem slow, uncomfortable and pretty much worthless. I would much rather have a modern street car like what Portland has. But that's just me.

Thanks for the pics!

I definitely agree with both you and kcexpress, but I'm proud of Little Rock for taking the first step towards sustainable transit. They went with the tourist trolley b/c they knew it would generate business right off the bat. IMO the route of the RiverRail couldn't have been planned better... it hits both downtown Little Rock and NLR, and swings over to the Clinton Library.

They are already working on CAT's Phase II, which incorporates modern streetcars. The next set of track is supposed to be two lines.... one over to the state capitol complex, and the other over to the Little Rock airport.