The City of Santa Clarita's newest efforts to promote redevelopment in the Old Town Newhall area comes in the form of a new website: MyNewMainStreet.com.

MyNewMainStreet.com tries to make Old Town (Downtown) Newhall sound like an exciting shopping and dining district, with offerings for sports enthusiasts (Roger Dunn Golf Shop), "cultural" grocery stores, and more.

The list of current businesses in the Old Town Newhall area includes those in the newer buildings located at Lyons and Walnut (commonly referred to as the Victorian Building or the Yellow Building) and at Lyons and Chestnut (otherwise known as the Chestnut Building or the Blue Building). Although both of these buildings are in the redevelopment zone, they are newer, well-maintained buildings that will not need "redevelopment" in order to fit into the upscale image planned for the Old Town Newhall area.

Notably absent from the list of retailers and service providers on MyNewMainStreet.com are the businesses currently located on Spruce Street (White Light Chiropractic Center, the Antique Flower Garden, CarQuest Auto Parts, Paws for Fun Doggie Day Care, and Just Passing Thru Body Piercing) as well as all automotive-related businesses in the Old Town Newhall area.

Among the list of Old Town Newhall's "consumer destinations" on MyNewMainStreet.com are the following:

• Victorian (Yellow) Building tenants
  • Egg Plantation
  • EmbroidMe
  • Fresh (women's apparel)
  • Propinquities (clothing and home decor)
• Chestnut (Blue) Building tenants
  • Pilates Teck
  • David Tanner DDS
• Restaurants
  • Mexican (El Mas Cafe, El Pariente, El Trocadero, Jazmin's Bakery, Jazmin's Restaurant)
  • Egg Plantation (in the Yellow Victorian Building)
  • Maria's Italian Deli
  • Thai Pepper
  • Way Station Coffee Shop
• Retail
  • Everything from Abe's Pawn Shop to Newhall Hardware, including Roger Dunn Golf Shop, Soccer and More, Newhall Bicycle Company, Billy's Board Shop, Poka-Dott Party Store, as well as the shops in the Yellow Victorian Building (Fresh, Propinquities).
• Services
  • Dentists (Tanner, Stowitts, Baltazar)
  • Hair Salons (Capelli, Lerma's)

The majority of the businesses in the Old Town Newhall redevelopment area are housed in single-story older buildings that are clearly in need of some cleaning up and updating. The Downtown Newhall Specific Plan states that the area will be updated to include multi-use buildings that are 1-3 stories tall, with a focus on generating retail sales. That means that service businesses and automotive businesses will be given the boot as redevelopment continues, as "automotive services uses yield relatively low levels of retail sales and also blight pedestrian-intensive environments" according to the Plan.

Many of the current businesses in the Old Town Newhall area are located there either because of the cheap rent or the proximity to their target customers. It's unclear whether these businesses will be able to survive revitalization with the expected rent increases in the area and the change in consumer demographics.

And of course the question remains as to whether the Downtown Newhall Specific Plan can be successfully implemented in the first place, since it calls for "at least one anchor tenant, and a mix of national and local vendors" to make it work. Neither an anchor tenant nor any national tenants (boutique stores) have been identified as having any interest in opening their doors in the Old Town Newhall area thus far.