The Rebirth of Hawley-Green: A once rundown neighborhood gets a massive dose of TLC

by Jenna M. McKnight
Goldring Arts Journalism Student

You could call Michael DeSalvo a believer. Three years ago, when the 47-year-old Syracuse native opened a hair salon in a former porn shop, redecorating and attracting customers weren’t his only concerns. The area was swarming with slumlords and drug
dealers, and DeSalvo often had to shoo prostitutes away from his storefront.Michael DeSalvo says prostitutes once loitered outside his salon, Hairanoia.: Photos by Jenna M. McKnight

"I’d come in, and there’d be five of them on my stoop," he said. "It was nuts."

Today, quite a different scene unfolds at his salon, Hairanoia. Flowering plants line the entrance, and neighbors regularly pop in to say hello.

Welcome to Hawley-Green, an urban neighborhood in the midst of a transformation. The triangle-shaped district—listed on the National Historic Registry in 1979—is in the near northeast section of Syracuse. The enclave is named after the intersection of Hawley Avenue and Green Street.

Thanks to the efforts of vigilant residents and business owners, combined with a gay-friendly branding campaign launched in 2002, the area’s seedy characters are vanishing and property owners are pumping long overdue love into neglected homes. A $475,000 grant recently awarded to the Northeast Hawley Development Association (NEHDA) likely will continue the momentum.

While the facelift is far from complete—eyesores still dot the area and prostitutes still linger—real estate values here are starting to climb. Believers like DeSalvo, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, say the district’s historic charm, community
spirit and short trek to downtown and Syracuse University make it a superb place to live and do business.

Benjamin Gembler, who moved to Hawley-Green six years ago, couldn’t agree more.

"I was really attracted to the architecture, the proximity of everything and, over time, the people," the 28-year-old said. "It’s all very appealing to me, which is why I’ve kept living here."

The area boasts an eclectic mix of stately Victorians and smaller houses in the Greek Revival, Gothic Revival and Italianate styles. Howard Street is especially eye-catching, with its row of historic homes, each painted a cheery blue, green, purple or yellow.The colorful homes on Howard Street are affectionately called ‘‘the painted ladies.’’

Once home to a former mayor of Syracuse in 1895, the neighborhood started to lose its verve after World War II. In the 1960s, the construction of Interstate 81 hastened its decline. A local church spearheaded a revitalization effort about 25 years ago, but the movement lost steam, and Hawley-Green slumped into a deep depression, said Alberta DeStefano, NEHDA’s director.

Wendy Evans, 39, opened Wendy’s Beauty Salon on Hawley Avenue a decade ago, when the area was still checkered with crack houses. She came here because it was affordable, but also for its promise.

"No one could see the vision," she said. "I saw the potential."

So did others, particularly some of the area’s first gay residents. Around 2002, the newly formed Hawley-Green Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Neighbors printed fliers touting the area as gay-friendly and hung them up in bookshops, cafes and organic food stores. The response was incredible.

John Besaw, a 53-year-old-nurse practitioner, and his partner moved into a renovated home on Hawley Avenue after spotting one of the ads at a Laundromat.

"We really wanted to live in a gay-friendly neighborhood," Besaw said. "We wanted to be included in a community."

DeSalvo said his salon was Hawley-Green’s first openly gay business. While the influx of gay residents helped spur the revival, DeSalvo emphasizes that any group of people could have done it. "Sexuality is more or less a non-issue," he said. "It’s not about being gay. It’s about people working to make the neighborhood into something."

That they have done. Visit Hawley-Green today, and you’re likely to see a house getting a fresh coat of paint. Scruffy yards are being landscaped. A formerly rundown playground is now bustling with youngsters, thanks to a refurbishment funded by grants.

There’s more to come. A retro bar, a bookstore and a restaurant are scheduled to open this fall. The sizable grant the housing association received will be put toward sprucing up vacant homes and selling them to owner-occupants. Of course, it’s not all about aesthetics. Residents have formed a neighborhood watch group and take turns patrolling
the area, looking for suspicious activity and code violations. Their most powerful weapon is the nuisance abatement law, which allows police to evict residents and board up a house if there have been at least three offenses there.

For DeSalvo, Hawley-Green’s continued renewal hinges on one main element: respect.

"A lot of people are doing things to make it pretty. It helps," he said. "But the relationships in the community, how we treat each other, is really what’s going to make a difference."