I have such a soft spot in my heart for Commercial Street, but it's not a guilty pleasure kind of thing because this historic street holds its own. Since moving to Springfield five years ago for college, I've seen it grow from a relatively unsafe (and generally un-fun) place to hang out to one of Queen City's most successfully revamped neighborhoods. What I personally love about Commercial Street is the almost magical sense of history that exists down there. From a renovated firehouse, to a long line of brick buildings in various states of repair, to the ol' footbridge (I wouldn't recommend setting foot on the other side of the latter, just FYI), everything on this block had a serious sense of purpose at one point in time. A local historian could go on about it much more than I could, but I do know that it used to be where Springfield's original train station was back when everything was all sepia-toned. The best reasons to visit what myself and friends call C-Street today are for the restaurants, cafés and miscellaneous eateries old and new; they sit next door to each other despite some being incredibly diverse and others being classically American. Also, the scattering of small barbers, antique shops and modern marketing firms is neat to see as well. While the blocks immediately surrounding C-Street are still a little less than safe after dark, the street itself is now a place I enjoy being at any hour of the day or evening. Despite what you may hear from locals who still think C-Street is the C-Street of 2010, 2014 C-Street is a great place to be and it's getting better by the month. I dig it. You should too. read more