By Laurie Capps
Photos by Maggie West

It’s like Brooklyn, but all on one street. In any good-sized city, you might look around and realize that all the cool kids and young families are moving to one particular neighborhood. In Asheville’s case, it’s West Asheville, where homes purchased in the beginning of 2001 more than doubled their value when they sold last year, says David Wall, a realtor with RE/MAX in West Asheville. The nickname for the neighborhood used to be Worst Asheville. “When I told people I was going to specialize in West Asheville, they laughed at me,” he says.

You might start a typical day on Haywood Road, West Asheville’s main strip, with a visit to the neighborhood standbys. First, there’s the West End Bakery (757 Haywood Road; 828-252-9378), where you can get organic coffee, a spelt muffin and any number of other fresh-baked, nutty-crunchy treats for relatively cheap. Or head to the perennially popular Sunny Point Café (626 Haywood Road; 828-252-0055) for brunch—their enormous backyard garden is currently undergoing a makeover. There’s a new menu at Burgermeister’s (697 Haywood Road; 828-225-2920) with meatloaf and half-chicken dinners, and the reliable Westville Pub  (777 Haywood Road; 828-225-9782) is good for grub and local music acts most nights of the week. As always, the music-heads at Harvest Records (415 Haywood Road, 828-258-2999) will sell you cool CDs, vinyl, books, magazines and, if you’re nice, you can get the scoop on all the best local bands and shows.

As if that wasn’t enough, there are the neighborhood newcomers, which have been popping up at an astonishing rate lately. No real plans for a Friday night? The free beer-tastings at Hops & Vines (797 Haywood Road, Suite 100, 828-252-5275), starting on Friday at 4pm, usually turn into a total hangout scene, complete with friendly dogs and enough free brew in a “sample” to give you a good buzz. You can also buy beer and drink it in the store—try one of the Japanese Hitachino ales, or stay closer to home with a porter or a stout from Highland or Pisgah Brewing Company. For brewing your own, the shop has all sorts of home-brewing equipment and ingredients, such as organic malt extracts and grains. Owners Alex and Melissa Buerckholtz opened their doors in November 2007, providing the neighborhood with this much-needed resource. Free wine tastings, too, on Saturdays from 2pm to 6pm.  

The Admiral (400 Haywood Road, 828-252-2541), which opened in early December of last year, looks like a dive on the outside but, like most gastropubs, serves surprisingly sophisticated food—mussels, a new twist on pimento cheese (made with stout beer!), macaroni and cheese and a gourmet root-vegetable mash. The menu changes often. Co-owner Drew Wallace says the personality of West Asheville makes it an ideal location for this sort of cozy, kitschy, neighborhood pub. Think low lights, comfy booths, minimalist décor and a younger, tattooed clientele. It’s open from 5pm until 2am and it’s packed on Friday and Saturday nights. Check out The Admiral’s Coat—the signature drink, made of spiced rum and Cheerwine.

Afterwards, if you’re in the mood for a little—or a lot—of music, check out The Rocket Club (401 Haywood Road, 828-505-2494). Owners Kevin Nessle and Ken Klehm book a broad range of music including jazz, blues, rock, punk and alt-country. It has a salvaged steel and concrete bar, aluminum tables, and there’s a retro-modern air. Recent shows have featured the punk band Agent Orange, the Asheville-based Electric Pearls and the rockabilly Whiskey Daredevils from Ohio. Housed in a 100-year-old brick building, the doors opened in January following two years of extensive and eco-friendly renovations (the urinals are designed to save at least 35,000 gallons of water a year).  Note the bathroom décor—those tin panels are part of the original ceiling, circa 1903.  There’s room for 600 and a full liquor bar and there’s live music Thursdays through Sundays. For clothes, the latest addition to a handful of high-end West Asheville boutiques is Minx, which has a larger store on Lexington Avenue in downtown Asheville. The West Asheville Minx outpost opened in December last year (504 Haywood Road, 828-252-4545) and shares space with Eldorado Mid-Century Modern: Salvage and Antiques (504 Haywood Road, 828-252-2505). The inside is decked out with great vintage Eldorado furniture. Even if you can’t afford Minx’s fabulous Tano bags or new (but vintage-looking) summer dresses, Letitia Walker, who works behind the counter and co-authored a book about sock monkeys, is a hoot to talk to.