Several new businesses have opened their doors in recent months. Other new stores, and possibly a coffee shop, are on the way.
A historical sign tells us that Federal Hill, the unofficial name of the incline at West 26th and Peach streets, was named for the large number of so-called Federals who lived there as early as the War of 1812.
Others, over the years, have dubbed the area north of the intersection on Peach Street as Hippie Hill, a quirky neighborhood that seemed a long way from the area’s commercial shopping centers.
Judy Burger remembers a string of mostly empty storefronts in 1998 when she moved Chicory Hill Herbs into 2516 Peach St. And she remembers being counseled that it wasn’t a good choice of neighborhoods.
Burger believes that time has proved her critics wrong.
That’s become increasingly apparent over the past year or so as new businesses have breathed life into the neighborhood, she said.
Tuesday found 10 or 12 people milling around her store. Patrons sampled cool cups of lavender lemonade, while others picked out hand-blended teas or shopped for gifts.
“I love it here,” said 24-year-old Jessica Frombach, a frequent customer who’s usually there for tea on Tuesdays. A massage therapist, Frombach said she frequently buys crystals at Chicory Hill that she uses as a Reiki practitioner.
“I feel a real sense of community and everything I need for my job is right here,” she said.
That sense of community and a sort of free-spirited vibe remind Judy Burger’s son, Danny Burger, of neighborhoods where he lived in San Francisco and Seattle.
Growth in recent months — some believe it started with the opening of Federal Hill Smokehouse in October — seems to have pumped life into a neighborhood once filled with the leftovers of failed ventures.
View Erie Times-News photos of businesses in the Federal Hill area of Peach Street: GoErie.com/photos
Several new businesses have opened their doors in recent months, including Gypsy Jewelry Box, Black Eagle Goods, Fat Lenny’s Punk Rock Candy and Toys, and Pointe Foure, a vintage clothing store.
And by some accounts, other new stores, and possibly a coffee shop, are on the way.
Already, this is a neighborhood where a visitor can get a tattoo, stock up on hand-blended anti-nausea tea, purchase a stuffed opossum, buy some hemp oil or a shaved ice, pick out a tie-dyed T-shirt or indulge in some of Erie’s top-rated barbecue.
“Lots of great things are happening,” said Ryan Bartosek, who was working Tuesday at Grasshopper, but spends much of his time a couple blocks down the street where he manages the King’s Rook Club.
Founded in 1992 by Dave and Diane Nieratko, Grasshopper remains one of the cornerstones of a business community built on the offbeat and eclectic.
Bartosek said the owners, who had been vendors at Grateful Dead concerts, originally opened the business to clear some of their excess inventory.
Today, the store is stocked with jam-band T-shirts, jewelry, handbags and salt lamps said to have healing powers.
It’s a little different from what shoppers might find a few blocks south on Peach Street, and Bartosek thinks that’s a good thing.
Much of the change is being driven by youthful customers and forward-thinking shopkeepers, he said.
“We are in a position where we are young and we have ideas,” he said. “It’s people having ideas and having the (resources) to make some of them come to fruition.”
That might describe Ryan Atzert, co-owner of Ink Assassins, who also is co-owner of Federal Hill Smokehouse with his wife, Autumn.
Atzert, whose restaurant is open only at lunchtime, said he’s busy most days and that people are beginning to view the neighborhood with different eyes.
“It’s the whole Hippie Hill thing,” he said. “I know that’s still here, but I don’t feel like that’s the only identity anymore.”
Like Bartosek, he sees a business district that’s catering to the needs of a different generation.
“I am really happy that there is a lot of younger people here trying to do different things,” he said.
Dave Steele, who works at Ink Assassins, a business he helped found, is among those trying to do something different. Steele, who returned to Erie after living in Philadelphia for several years, recently opened Black Eagle Goods, which specializes in antiques, taxidermy and handmade goods.
Steele said even his own brother questioned the safety of the neighborhood, but he hasn’t had any problems.
Although community business owners plan to lobby for more street lighting, Steele said, “There hasn’t been much riffraff here for years. People misconstrue that this is a bad part of town.”
Steele said he sees a community that’s beginning to take shape, to become what he thought it had the potential to become.
“I was hoping to see this happen,” he said. “This is why I moved here.”
As CEO of the Erie Downtown Partnership, John Buchna doesn’t interact with the business community around Peach and 26th streets.
But he has worked in the area in his old job with the Gannon University Small Business Development Center, and he’s been keeping an eye on the area in recent months.
Buchna said he’s intrigued by what he sees.
“It’s an eclectic area,” he said. “It can definitely complement what’s downtown. It’s great to see what they are doing.”
By grouping together a certain type of business, merchants have taken a big step toward creating a destination, Buchna said.
“Destinations are a key in many communities,” he said. “They were smart in clustering themselves in an area that they play off each other.”
Jim Martin can be reached at 870-1668 or by email.