Morgantown: Sunshine Fairies and Theater Wizards

Welcome to my favorite city in West Virginia, my home for 8 years, and the state’s most vibrant downtown, complete with well-used riverfront park on the Monongahela. Morgantown reaps praise like a gin reaps cotton: "Best Small City in the East" (Guide to Life in America’s Small Cities), "#1 Dreamtown in the Country" (Demographics Daily), and "’A’ for Econonomic Development" (Census Bureau--Pleased residents agree!). A model for planners and statisticians to study, the city has big plans that continue to surprise former residents like me. The nation’s #1 Mainstreet project, a thriving arts community drawing talent from WVU, and enterprising local merchants make Morgantown a delightful destination for shopping, dining, touring, biking, and theater--not to slight the "Mighty Mountaineers."

I’m not the only admirer of the home of WVU. In the 1970’s, Joni Mitchell characterized its carefree supposed provincialism in "Morning Morgantown": "Buy your dreams a dollar down." I hum the tune as I zip along the paved Caperton Trail past decks and patios of my favorite local eateries, like Oliverio’s with Italian food so good they sell it in supermarkets. I pass it this time, and stepping up onto the deck of La Casa, I anticipate the best guacamole north of the Rio Grande. The old Gold Medal Flour warehouse with cool brick walls entices me inside, and as I sit facing the river, I am oblivious to the city of 27,000 and the university of 30,000 outside the front door with other worldly wonders. Provincialism, indeed! This river community satisfies the longing! I peddle back to the Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater for live blues and meander under brightly striped canopies of local pottery and print artisans. (Nice work!) It’s a metamorphosis on the Monongahela, and I am James Joyce making peace with Dublin.

On Don Knotts Blvd., my perfect river world is hidden by the new 16-story Radisson and a new University facility with impressive complementary architecture. At the Westover Bridge, the front of Wings Ole’ (healthy Mexican) hardly hints at the water town in back of its deck, and a few blocks further up University Avenue toward campus, the front of West Virginia Brewery (good grilled menu) hides its deck and steps down to the park. I turn my back to the river and walk a block to High Street, center of downtown and my favorite shopping in the state. With two major malls just outside the city, Morgantown’s resilience is apparent along its sidewalks: a busy, colorful, quaint wonderland with clean storefronts from decades long ago, an enticing mix of ethnic and specialty shops, and several landmark buildings of neo-classic design.

As I pass the recently restored Metropolitan Theatre (1924), the "Opening Soon" banner on its clean facade recalls vaudeville and the mystique of Helen Hayes, Bing Crosby, and Bob Hope. The city promises over 100 live performances here each year, as well as film events. For now, I admire the building hailed as "West Virginia’s most beautiful playhouse" and one of the best surviving examples in the region of neoclassic revival. I notice the high mock columns and Greek key cornice for the first time and realize what competition shop windows create. "I’ll check that opening date at DowntownMorgantown," I resolve, and continue to M. T. Pockets, an "alternative" theater--dress down and forget architecture!--on Spruce, another block from the river. Every stage in town overflows with talented graduates from WVU’s School of Drama--actors, directors, even make-up artists have resumes that include Hollywood. They create the illusion of theatre as surely as Morgantown Mainstreet preserves the memory of time.

Quick Tips:

Free lunchtime concerts are a decades-old tradition in front of the Monongalia County Courthouse, a listed building. Tuesdays and Thursdays, old-time, brass, jazz, and country are on the schedule. Another block on High is MAC or Monongalia Arts Center, an impressive, listed neoclassic structure, home to Tanner Theater and Benedum Gallery. For other art venues, visit MonArts. For University and visiting drama and West Virginia public theater (musicals), the CAC or Creative Arts Center on Evansdale Campus requires transportation and misses historic downtown.

Performance shedules are at the info desk, Mountainlair student center, just steps from downtown and at Visitor Info, Seneca Center, Beechurst Avenue, once Seneca Glass, Jackie Kennedy’s choice. They have walking and guided historic tours, boat and kayak tours of Mon River history and locks, glass tours, and others, plus info on festivals--many festivals.

Thanks to WVU football, plenty of hotels, many major chains, are not fully booked except for home games. The most elegant is landmark Hotel Morgan (a Clarion), a city institution with fabulous restaurant serving beef Wellington and the like. Several chic establishments serve similar menus, and eateries of every genre abound.

Best Way To Get Around:

Morgantown has an airport dominated by U. S. Airways, and flights from Pittsburgh are frequent. Transportation airport-to-downtown isn’t expensive--it’s not far. Most hotels have complimentary shuttles that will not only meet passengers at the airport, but also shuttle them anywhere they want to go around town--an advantage of a relaxed small city.

Once downtown or at Evansdale Campus, the PRT or Personal Rapid Transit (50 cents) stops at several points. This is a people mover, the first in the country, another "experiment" Morgantown’s demographics garnered for the city to add to its impressive infrastructure. There is also a reliable bus system for points in town and to outlying areas, particularly those connecting with the rail/trail system. Maps and schedules are at info centers. I recently read a newpaper article quoting a city official saying, "In the future when you think of Morgantown, you’ll think of bicycles." This should suffice to express the major initiative of this city in favor of bikes. For the river and three parallel streets downtown--University, High, and Spruce (and side streets and alleys with historic shops)--walking is sufficient and fun.

La Casa was an instant hit when it opened downtown around 1980. The enterprising owner had a "gimmick": white Mexican. They had red sauce, too, but the luscious sour cream goo was more suited to the sophisticated tastes of the University community. Immediately, lines formed outside the nondescript former retail location that could just as easily have been a Picway as a Mexican restaurant. Weekends, we had to allow extra time or be late for the movies, so long was the wait. Decor inside suggested "beatnik Mexican," a cross between the country south of the border and a Jack Kerouac hangout, but sparse decorations couldn’t cover walls that still screamed "low-end retail"! No matter! Lighting was minimal and food was great.

Students, professors, waiters, and Sunday-school teachers all came for chicken enchiladas smothered in silky white sauce, great banana desserts, and heavenly margueritas. We couldn’t dine at other Mexican restaurants without feeling experience letdown. A new influx of people from Mexico moved into the region and opened restaurants of their own--their food wasn’t La Casa’s. (We couldn’t complain to people who didn’t speak English! They didn’t understand, "We want real Mexican--white sauce!") Back to our favorite, we tried to analyze the feeling of well-being, the complete satisfaction we felt after every meal. We even tried meals without the margueritas--still mystifyingly happy! La Casa was a sensation! The sophisticated Mexican stole the show.

With the development of the warehouse district, the restaurant moved to the river, upscale warehouse location in a listed landmark building. The large room with wooden floor and brick walls has a rich wooden bar, long, with several seats, and tables inside and on the deck seat a few hundred. The right amount of tasteful Mexican decoration complements the Old West atmosphere of the second-floor honky-tonk. (There is a an upright piano.) Three sets of double doors and the patio face the Caperton Trail, the lone stretch that brings riders past other watering holes to this saloon: La Casa Mexican Grill.

The menu hasn’t changed much--still large and varied. After a few years away, I still have a memory of the guacamole. "That’s it!" I exclaim. At the moment of contact, I can almost describe the difference that makes it better than any other. My chicken enchilada swimming in sour cream sauce is better than the ones I’ve learned to make--and they in turn second only to La Casa’s! Their sauce is richer, their tortillas more wholesome, and their taste with a spice I can’t identify as cumin or nutmeg--some magic ingredient. We left happy with that sense of perfect well-being that mystifies me still. I sense another decade of La Casa commitment ahead. I’m hooked again.

Service is excellent, as this restaurant keeps personnel happy, too. One can drive to Clay Street or walk on the trail from Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park. There’s an outdoor wheelchair lift.

West Virginia Brewing Company makes fine beer, I am told, and they sell at least half of it in their own pub located on University Avenue with a high deck overlooking Morgantown’s riverfront park on the Monongahela. It’s a great location for refreshment on festival days listening to jazz at the amphitheater or peddling the trail. For downtown specialty shopping, visits to the University main campus, and excursions to the antique shops on Beechurst Avenue, the brewery is a convenient stop. With this location, it’s popular with students and locals alike. Parking isn’t visible in front, but there is plenty around back.

Decor lacks the special ambience of Wheeling’s or Pittsburgh’s breweries with their loft/art/history/ethnic touch, but this pub on the river may be just what the doctor ordered to an overworked peddler hot off the trail. As we walked through the diningroom to the deck, we noticed only that the decor wasn’t especially designed to delight or impress, and that there were plenty of wooden tables. The menu is long and varied with grilled meat and seafood selections, both sandwiches and dinners, and pasta, both red and white. Some marinated selections sounded German--the waiter only knew he didn’t like them! Salads are huge, and pasta with spinach and artichokes and a trailing list of veggies sounded healthy.

I wanted a protein fix, so I decided on the salmon. They were out, but I forgave them on this busy Saturday of the Arts and River Festival. I ordered a grilled (blackened) chicken breast sandwich, and my friend would have the French dip. In somewhat of a hurry to get to the theater before our tickets were cancelled, we had chosen selections quick to prepare, but we waited an uncomfortably long time for our meal. My friend enjoyed his French dip, and the highlight of my platter was the fries I hadn’t even ordered ($1 extra). The blackened chicken breast was good ($1 extra for blackening), but the thick home-cut fries with skins were outstanding--I found the Belgian frites!

With all the extras, our bill was over $20 for 2 sandwiches in the $6 range. No matter, we enjoyed the food and fresh air--and we made it to the theater on time. Service and decor were adequate; food, good; location, great. The West Virginia Brewing Company says, "I am what I am." She’s a brew pub in a university town on a bike trail just a block from main campus. Those committed to the location--or the beer--will return.

For hours and menu, including descriptions of WV brews, see WV Brew.

"Wait ‘til the lights go down!" I tell everyone I take to M. T. Pockets. My criterion for choosing a theater is simple: it must have a good selection of "proven" plays and good talent. M. T. Pockets qualifies. Architecture and decor are extras, but they aren’t essential.

We are excited as we walk down Spruce St. to the awning of Morgantown Florist--that’s our landmark. Miss it, and we miss the door to the steps down. It’s not a "beatnik" cellar, either, so we don’t expect style. The room with commercial tile floors, fluorescent ceiling fixtures, and black velvet curtains strung all around is a temporary home with all the basic requirements: air conditioning, adequate stage lighting, and elevated platform seating on stackable chairs. Voila! Theatre! Now it’s up to the cast to create the illusion. To see what kind of spell they plan to cast, we consult their website: M. T. Pockets.

A great number of plays conform to the company’s stated mission: to create parts for women. However, the performance schedule deviates from this objective occasionally to offer Twentieth Century intellectual favorites, like Waiting for Godot, and visiting events, such as An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein. We’ve seen three plays there: The Deer and the Antelope Play, a Texas family drama about teenage depression, by Mark Dunn; The Death of a Miner (a woman coal miner) by Paula Cizmar; and most recent, Waiting for the Parade, a character study of five women without their men during WWII. All have been well-acted and directed with sets and costumes that seem authentic.

We chose the downtown theater Saturday night in preference to the West Virginia Public Theater production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. My favorite character in Waiting for the Parade (set in Calgary, Canada during the 1940’s) was the German woman who kept reminding those who scorned her: "I’fe liffed in Calgary since I vas eight." She sang in German--even smoked like a German--and was appropriately gruff. Another character, the "do-good" organizer of the volunteers, was justifiably too intense, and her stiff jaw was convincing. Another was pert, curt, and sexy as she painted lines (seams) on her legs. It was a bravado performance that received a standing ovation--chairs and feet clattered on the wooden platforms as we all clamored to get up.

We share the excitement of this company. Indeed, no guest at their performances could avoid interest in the group, as well as the plays. They are succeeding in creating a community proving ground for talent the area is overflowing with. The need was there, and M. T. Pockets fills it.

Sunday, residents and students alike were out enjoying this city and navigating it via Caperton Trail. It was a rather idyllic scene reminiscent of a time when America was safe and carefree and rivers were clean, lazy channels that connected us so that we knew them intimately and visited them in solitude. Now, a Mother with a baby carriage venturing way out from downtown along the old B & O Railroad must have felt assured of her safety. Two boys jumping into the Monongahela River from an isolated dock wouldn’t have been allowed to go there over ten years ago, but from the tressle atop the embankment, we waved down at them. "Hi!" they replied. Splash! All was well again downtown in merry Morgantown.

Caperton Trail is the downtown riverfront rail/trail link Morgantown has built its entire municipal revitalization program around. It is incorporated into the Hazel Ruby McQuain Park and Amphitheater on the water (site of free concerts and festivals), new upscale residential, business, and University complexes, at least one new hotel (so far), several restaurant relocations and a few new ones, the restored Train Depot and Wharf District, bike rentals, and the list goes on. Restored historic structures interspersed with attractive new glass-brick architecture create an interesting riverfront community. For long distance travelers, this is an important link for all their needs, either on the trail or a block away.

Eight miles of pavement connect at each end to the larger rails-to-trails system. From the Water Treatment Plant on the southern city limit to Osage on the northern end, bikers find smooth sailing all along the Monongahela River, followed by more miles of limestone and packed sand. The Train Depot in the Park is the trailhead, and just a few doors south is a bike rental. A little further, the restored Wharf District offers an entrance to Deckers Creek Trail that runs all the way to Reedsville in Preston County. Only three miles of this second trail is paved (through Morgantown) before it changes to limestone. All surfaces counted, 27 miles or more can be executed without exiting the trail.

A good stop for solitude and the shade of an old-growth forest is WVU’s Core Arboretum, just north of all the downtown development along the trail. Anyone who wants to drive there would be advised to start slowly down the hill from the Coliseum toward downtown and look for a place to pull off to the right. If you miss the first, another one further down shortens the steep walk down to the river. Ninety acres of marked specimen trees and plants are beautiful with clean undergrowth. A small old coal mine is evident, but filled by the University. I’ve always found the Arboretum deserted, but classes do venture out here. Even for one used to old forests, this one is a treat in the middle of the city. Three miles of walking paths afford benches, and at the top is WVU’s Evansdale Campus with people-mover (PRT) stations (50 cents) and Trolley stops. Trolley has bike racks and takes riders to points of interest to them both in town and to outlying areas, including all trail points. For schedules, see BusRide.

Life is changed in Morgantown. I have read that many businesses and jobs have been created by this new pristine community along the water, and I wonder why other small cities are so slow in constructing their rail/trail links. My hometown, for example, a ways upstream, has contributed nothing to the rail/trail system, which is finished to the city limits on both sides. Bikers have to get off the trail and ride for several miles through busy, congested streets breathing exhaust fumes from trucks and stopping at traffic lights when they could be sailing along the Monongahela River, which runs straight through the middle of town. A river runs through it, but a trail doesn't! Only a few blocks from the river, I have to put my bike on the car and drive several miles to the outskirts of town, so . . . I keep on going . . . to Morgantown! Too bad for merchants in my city, that's where I spend my money.