Delightful University Place

by Patty Beutler

Drift from the center of downtown Lincoln, and you can find some unexpected surprises. Just when you think you have left the cultural heart behind, you find a beckoning beat just a few miles to the north and east. Such is University Place, a long-ago village annexed in 1926, that maintains its own identity, history and attractions. This is a neighborhood that welcomes visitors.

Nothing stodgy here. The area bounded by 33rd and Holdrege streets on the west and south—basically the attractive East Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—and 56th and Adams streets on the east and north, is ever-changing and updating itself but never loses the integrity of the original. You can feel its energy just walking down 48th Street, where restaurants, coffee shops, art galleries, boutiques, a jeweler, tattoo shops, CBD dispensaries, a hair salon and even a dog grooming business dot the main thoroughfare and peek out from side streets. There’s even a barboutique, Blue Velvet Underground, where you can sip Saturday sangria while you shop for clothes and accessories.

Gone are the much-loved Tastee Inn and Out, QP Store, Treasure City and Cool Crest mini golf of your grandfather’s day—a Facebook group, Growing Up University Place & North 48th St., with over 1,400 members, keeps those memories alive—but new development and renovation are making new memories among the long-time residents, students and apartment dwellers.

A little history first. In the center of University Place is Nebraska Wesleyan University, founded in 1887, which gives the area its name. Situated on 50 acres, the Methodist-affiliated liberal arts school, 5000 St. Paul Avenue, hosts about 2,100 students, three graduate programs, and more than 100 majors, minors and pre-professional programs. You are welcome to exhibitions at Elder Art Gallery on campus and to theater productions in the Elder Theatre Center. Plus it’s fun to stroll the campus among some stately old buildings like Old Main, a three-story structure built in 1887-88 at 50th and St. Paul.

Speaking of stately buildings, walk by the First United Methodist Church, officially dedicated in 1909, at 2723 N. 50th Street. Boasting massive Greek columns outside and inside, the building features an amphitheater-style balcony and a huge glass dome with a patriotic design of Abraham Lincoln.

But enough gawking at old buildings. Instead, head for Mo Java Café, 2649 N. 48th, for a cup of joe, a refreshing smoothie or a bite to eat, from breakfast specialties to bagel melt sandwiches and flatbread pizza. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with an 8 a.m. start Sunday.

Or you can stop by Jerusalen Bakery, 2700 N. 48th, for traditional pastries from Central America, delicious fruit-filled pies or fresh fruit shakes. Closed Monday but open at 10 a.m. every other day except 2 p.m. on Sunday.

If you’d rather peruse fresh produce, with mounds of watermelon, tomatoes, sweet corn and bins of garden veggies in the summer and pumpkins and apples in the fall, plus jarred goods and containers of sweets, check out Kelly’s Produce, 2904 N. 48th, an expansive open-air stand. Opens at 9 a.m. daily.

While the busy street plays host to a dance studio, an art studio with public classes, a photography studio and BLIXT Storefront Theatre and Performing Arts School, the Lux Center for the Arts, on the corner of Baldwin and N. 48th, invites visitors to browse its exhibition spaces and chock-filled gift shop for one-of-a-kind handmade items. The center holds public events every First Friday of the month, where crowds gather to take in some spectacular art. Housed in what was built as the city hall in 1914 and then became a fire station and a restaurant, the Lux, formerly known as the University Place Arts Center, moved into its current location in 1988 after Gladys Lux purchased the building. Now it attracts people of all ages with classes in painting, pottery, jewelry and drawing, and offers an artist-in-residence program. 

In September the Nebraska Arts Council announced that the University Place neighborhood has  been designated as the Uni Place Creative District—the first in Lincoln—opening the way for state funds and other support. 

The arts spill on to the streets with a mural project the Lux has initiated. Colorful artwork now graces the sides of building courtesy of local, national and international artists. Lux offers free guided tours one Saturday a month at 10:30 a.m., but free maps of the mural locations are available in the gallery.

The future is bright for this historic neighborhood as it looks forward to the development of new apartments on the vacant lot at 48th and Madison, where Green’s Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electrical, a pillar of the Uni Place’s business community, burned down in 2003. The lot has been a vacant and unused eyesore for years.

Farther south, at 49th and Francis, sits Seng Park, named after Coleen Seng, a former mayor of Lincoln and outspoken advocate of the neighborhood. It’s perfect for picnics, pickle ball and paddling in the nearby pool. It also hosts a Community Free Market once a month, which is like a yard sale, but everything is free.

So, don’t let University Place be a stranger. Get out and explore the city’s periphery. You never know what you will find.