"So maybe I'll see you there
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
So go downtown, things'll be great when you're
Downtown - don't wait a minute more
Downtown - everything's waiting for you."
- Petula Clark, "Downtown"
Things are pretty great downtown, as they were when the lyrics to the hit bearing the name were penned in 1964 - and as they are today, with the song finding new appreciation in a 2006 cover by British artist Emma Bunton.
But in the time between, downtowns across the country have seen things become, well, not so great. And Little Rock and North Little Rock have been no exception.
As families of the '70s and '80s moved out of urban centers in to the suburbs, many downtowns decayed. Storefronts were boarded up, crime was on the rise, and living downtown north or south of the river was hardly as cool as it's been in the past decade or so, with the emergence of the River Market District and the renaissance of Argenta.
But, thanks to concentrated efforts by partners ranging from city governments to nonprofits to private investors, things have begun to turn a corner.
Sharon Priest, director of the Downtown Partnership in Little Rock, said the rebirth of the heart of the city has been a result of a variety of factors, notably the emergence of a younger, suburban generation looking for something different.
"When you look at downtown versus a neighborhood, we have churches and schools, and we have a neighborhood that's not like ... a planned subdivision," she said. "I think people [living here] are looking for a sense of community you don't have in a subdivision. I think downtown you have more of a community. If you're sitting in a park, you're going to end up talking to people."
Add to that a generation of baby boomers wealthier than their parents and looking for a place to call an empty nest and you have a mixed demographic sharing the same space, eating at the same restaurants, taking in the shows at the theater, or visiting the museums.
It's a different picture than the drug and gang violence realities of several years ago, an image that still mars some locals' perception of what downtown is. Priest credits that turnaround in part to the success of the River Market District, as well as to the vision of developers who "dreamed of an urban living lifestyle and put their money behind it."
What that's meant for Little Rock, she said, is the promise of a good quality of life for urban residents: things to do, an attractive streetscape, and a feeling of safety.
Across the river, the rebirth of North Little Rock's Argenta district is likewise considered a success in progress, and a recovery from decay. Two murders in 1991 sparked residents to combat the blight in the neighborhood. From that came organizations like the Argenta Community Development Corporation (CDC) and Main Street Argenta, which have worked to revitalize a once thriving commercial and residential district.
Rosemary Hamel, the founding director of the CDC, saw the battle first hand.
"I talk about it as a pendulum swing. It went about as far as it could go ... and thank goodness now it has made the turnaround," she said.
The CDC's part in that was to oversee investment into dilapidated properties that were refurbished and resold, meanwhile educating home buyers on the process of the sale and general principles of ownership. Fifteen years after its establishment, the organization had acquired more than 100 homes, developed nearly 150 units of housing, and directed the investment of some $12.4 million into rehabilitation efforts.
Michael Drake, the director of Main Street Argenta, lived in Little Rock at the time, but said the efforts of cooperation undertaken in the '90s laid the groundwork for success on both sides of the river.
"It's kinda like the recipe for baking a cake. There are fundamental ingredients. One of those fundamental ingredients is that public-private partnership," he said.
The commitment of the governments to work together, of the city to light the area and make it safe, of businesses to help financially, and of residents to be involved - all these things helped bring about progress like Alltel Arena, Dickey-Stephens Park, the trolley line, and business at the River Market.
Like Priest, Drake said it is quality of life that determines the success of downtown as a viable commercial and residential center.
"In the history of the United States, it's very unusual to find downtowns and neighborhoods turn around without equivalent motivation of the community ... to restore that downtown to its former days," he said.