Leucadia Blog

The Leucadia Blvd coast hwy/Vulcan/train tracks intersection was
just brutal this weekend. Total chaos. I can’t believe nobody got
hurt. …
Monday, June 25, 2007 | Downtown Encinitas can’t be accused of lacking creative flavor. From the mosaic tile trash cans lining the streets to the gold-and-blue domed Self-Realization Fellowship Temple that twinkles with thousands of lights during the winter holidays, the town is filled with color and flair.

“There’s an artist of some kind behind every other door around here,” said Barbara Milé, an Encinitas native and former city art commissioner.

The revitalization of the downtown area over the last decade has brought business and tourism to the area. Boutique clothing shops, gardening supply stores and hair salons now fill the city’s downtown area.

However, that boom has also raised rent to the point that the community artists are having a hard time affording gallery space in the very area they helped define. “It works against us in a way because when the town is revitalized, the rent goes up,” said local artist Donna Butnik.

Aesthetic and structural improvements made to the downtown area of old Encinitas are part of a revitalization program run by the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association. More than $23 million went toward the development of new shopping centers, streetscape renovations and art-specific programs such as the Arts Alive street banners. In 2004, DEMA received a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The association was praised for having “successfully harnessed the community’s artistic spirit to develop an arts niche.”

Since 1997, the rate for a commercial space in the popular shopping center The Lumberyard has doubled from $1.50 a square foot to about $3.