Date:  Mon, 2 Oct 1995 15:36:43 -0400

From:  Michael Elkins <MELKINS[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ADVOCATE.COM>

Subject: Re: downtown/inner city



Tom Uharriet wrote:

> Greetings,

> When did "downtown" become "inner-city"?

> As a child, I used to go downtown to the heart of Los Angeles. Now

> it the inner-city.



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For me, going "downtown" paints a picture of going to work, going to

take care of government/etc. business, going shopping (not so much

anymore on this last one). "Inner city" is used to describe the older,

impoverished sections of a city--usually the original downtown and

surrounding area of a city if there are residences present--in order to

differentiate from the newer suburban zones that hopeful homeowners

populated in the post-World War II boom. (Merriam Webster cites its

first evidence of "inner city" as being from 1961.)