Inside Optimist Park, I visited the McGill Rose Garden, a lovely little coffee shop that seemed tucked away from the rest of the world, and Optimist Food Hall, a vibrant eatery and shopping district that's anything but tucked away.

From peaceful corners to bustling public spaces, Optimist Park invites conversation and community.

Come with me.

(upbeat music) - There's just something about being out in nature and just getting to breathe the air.

People don't realize just how calming that is and just how important it is.

- It is, it's very important.

- So I love that there's this respite here.

- So we are on North Davidson Street.

We're kind of at the gateway of the NODOT Arts District.

The garden started as a fuel and ice company, started by Henry McGill back in the '50s.

He sold the property.

It is currently owned by the city of Charlotte.

So there's walking paths all throughout the garden.

It is just under two acres of green space in a very urban area.

So we like to call it our little urban garden.

- I wanna know more about Ms.

McGill.

What can you share about her loves and why she decided to start this?

- She just had a love of roses and thought that she could beautify a very industrial section of Charlotte.

They started planting rose bushes first along the fence over here on McGill Garden Way, and soon it took over the whole garden.

- It's beautiful.

And I went inside the coffee house too.

It's like a little cottage, so charming.

How long has the coffee house been here and what's inside?

- So inside is Rosie's, and we opened our wine shop in 2019, and we brought coffee in January of 2021.

- The name of the coffee shop is Rosie's.

Who's that named after?

- We had a little shop kitty several years ago.

She was born in the garden.

We adopted her, and she was queen of the garden.

- As people stroll the garden, what kinds of things are they gonna see?

- They're gonna see all kinds of flora, rose bushes, camellia bushes, fern gardens, herb gardens, pollinator gardens, which is the newest section of the garden.

It's about a year and a half old and still a work in progress.

- So this is the pollinator garden, and then there's a mural here.

Kind of speaks to what appears to be her feeling about community and just belonging and everyone being welcome.

- Absolutely.

(upbeat music) - The Optimist Hall, it has become really a gathering place where people can come, enjoy different types of food.

(upbeat music) - I just love what you guys have done to this place because it's so pretty and bright.

Very nice food hall.

- This here is a history of the neighborhood where we sit.

So we're currently in Optimist Park.

You can see over in the bottom right.

Where we're sitting, this portion of the building was built in 1892.

And this one actually made gingham fabric and they became one of the largest gingham manufacturers in the country.

Is Optimist Hall is basically two floors and call it 25, 26 vendors.

So they'll call it the retail side where we have restaurants, bars, retail establishments.

Infinite succulents.

(upbeat music) - We do have some chefs that are great.

We have some that are local entrepreneurs that were operating out of a food truck.

And this was their next step to go to a more brick and mortar type establishment.

- There's just about every kind of cuisine you can imagine here at Optimist Hall.

But I was in the mood for some Ethiopian.

So I went to a place called Enet and I got their Tibbs platter.

Of course you can visit the entire world if you want to here at Optimist.

So I went to India, got me this delicious mango lassi from Odiwala.

Love these.

(upbeat music) - The goal is, you know, if you come with your family, right, you're like, well, I want sushi.

Your kids are like, I want a hamburger.

Kind of cancels that veto vote.

When they're like, I don't wanna go there.

I don't like that.

And so what we found is for families in particular, that works well.

We do have a courtyard.

And that was a space where the water tower for the facility actually used to sit.

And again, the goal is to make it feel very calming and welcoming.

Nicer days, those will be packed with families, right?

We try to make this a very family-friendly place.

(upbeat music) - The Gill Rose Garden and Rosie's Coffee and Wine is open Sunday to Thursday from 8 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

and Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m.

to 11 p.m.

Optimist Food Hall is at 1115 North Brevard Street in Charlotte, and it's open every day.

To find out more, give them a call at 980-701-0040 or go online to optimisthall.com.