Building the better Main Street -part 2

Urban and town planers in America have come to rediscover the value of "walkable" space. Getting away from the total dependence on the automobile isn't only ecologically sound but people find it's really pleasant to have a community that's accommodate walking and biking. Once established walking and biking in town doesn't need much in the way of promotion.

The future of Main Streets in America is providing arts, culture and entertainment. Things that the suburbs don't provide. It's not enough to just have the venue space -like any other product it has to marketed. One of the best ways to market a location is go Hollywood. A movie could be the best possible advertisement to tell the rest of the world your hometown exists.  

You would think a city as beautiful as Salzburg Austria would not need to advertise. They have an historic castle, the birth home of Motzart, and even casino that would be a perfect setting for a James Bond film.

But thousands of tourists every year come to see the town where The Sound Of Music was filmed. The gazebo, where Liesl sings Sixteen Going On Seventeen is as popular as any other attraction in Salzburg.

It would be cynical say the hills are alive with sound of money but the 1965 film is the gift that keeps giving to Salzburg. One thing that I found out first hand is that the song Edelweiss is not a traditional Austrian folk tune -nor is it the country's national anthem. Austrians tend to be good natured and polite but they will remind you that the song was written by Oscar Hammerstein specially for the movie.

 King's Crossing Station is to London what Grand Central Station is ti New York City. It's an historic building that dates back to 1852, a major transportation hub and it's part of a world class city filled with museums, theaters and entertainment. But add to it the magic of Harry Potter and platform 9 3/4 becomes a destination people purposely come out to see.

 

If you're not a teenage girl, aspiring Goth or a fan of melodramatic vampires than you might not know about but the town of Forks in Washington state. It became famous as the backdrop for the Twilight movies. Forks had always catered to tourists because it's just outside of  Olympic National Park. The area was known for it's sports fishing and hiking trails through the Hoh rainforest but all that's now been eclipsed. Before the Twilight movies Forks expected to see about 10,000 tourist a year but by 2010 that grew to over 70,000 -and that's more visitors than you can shake a wooden stake at.







The 1972 movie Deliverance was hard edge thriller that to this day still makes people nervous when they hear banjos in the forest. For the people along the Chattooga River it was the beginning of a multi-million dollar white water rafting industry. Prior to 1974 and the success of the movie the Chattooga River was not protected from development.









                                           
William Wallace, the first hero Scottish resistance against English rule was either immortalized or exploited for the movie Braveheart. No matter how wrong the screen writers got the history, no can argue that the attendance to William Wallace's monument double after the release of the movie in 1995.  

 

It was Steve McQueen's first feature movie and a surprise sleeper hit  that has become a genre classic. It was filmed in Phoenixville PA and  for the last several years in the middle of July the entire town celebrates Blobfest. It's a weekend of music, street fairs and 1950's style science fiction / monster movie style entertainment. Of course there is a screening of The Blob.





After the movie there is a reenactment of the movie scene where the towns people stampede out of the Colonial Theater to escape from the Blob inside. It's all good fun that brings people to Phoenixville.  

One good event can inspire many more. Phoenixville has been able to capitalize on its past to help make it thriving center of commerce.

I'm not sure there's a way to empirically quantify the cool factor of having a movie made in your hometown but it's plain to see people want to be in places where extraordinary are happening.

What's The Blob worth to Phoenixville? I'm told it priceless.