From the Cinderella story MARRS building to the urban bustle of Capitol and 18th streets, the refrain is the same: Midtown is changing.

Rundown one-stories and weed-beset lots are giving way to gleaming lofts and teeming restaurants. Four-wheeled traffic shares space with locomotion of the non-horse-powered variety, and events like Second Saturday are growing Sacramento converts by the month.

But such piecemeal rebirth is a tough thing to measure. Like many scenes of urban renaissance, the corner of 19th and L is a microcosm of the fits-and-starts redevelopment that is transforming the city. The intersection reflects more than cars and pedestrians – it also reflects midtown's past and future.

"Before, it was not used space," said Mike Gonsalves, 26, who lives just a few blocks away. "It was just depressing down here and now, there's life."

Things got started about two years ago, when developer Sotiris Kolokotronis began turning two empty lots – one of them a decades-old hole in the ground – into the hip 1801 L St. apartments, and across the street, the soaring L Street Lofts, an address that now boasts no less famous a pair of tenants than the Kevins Johnson and Martin.

Perhaps more than any other area in midtown, this corner has become a seemingly overnight sensation, with Buckhorn Grill and the L Wine Lounge paving the way for Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates, Yogurtagogo and other locally owned, upscale retailers.

But rebirth, like going down a pants size, is slow-going when done right, and with the lofts as a harbinger, the rest of the corner is changing as well.

Last year, the iconic Harv's Car Wash underwent a $250,000 makeover, transforming the '70s-chic establishment into an environmentally friendly bastion of retro cool, with what owner Aaron Zeff deemed the most beautiful bathroom to ever grace the inside of a carwash.

Across the way, Howard & Sons auto repair shop, a family business that logged 41 years on the corner, is in the process of an evolution that will turn the nondescript brick rectangle into a private dining annex to Patrick Mulvaney's Building & Loan restaurant – signature firehouse doors and all.

Move-in was at the end of last year, and the space's grand opening is slated for Aug. 16.

"It was a perfect space for us," Mulvaney said. "This corner is just going to pop right out."

But lest the intersection's southwestern inhabitant feel left out, there has been recent activity at City Suds as well. Abruptly closed down in January after the owners defaulted on their loan – so abruptly, many said, that some folks' laundry was left in the lurch – the laundromat is back in business under new management.

Barbara Knowles knows a prime location when she sees one, and she jumped at the chance to take over the well-placed business. After a fairly significant remodel, machine upgrade and general spruce-up, City Suds reopened in late May. Now, Knowles is focusing on luring erstwhile customers back to the familiar stucco structure.

"So far, customers have been very positive with us being here, and they want to know that we're going to (continue being) here," she said.

For now, that answer is 'yes.' As the relative holdouts on the corner, both Harv's and City Suds will be around for at least the next few years, owners of both say.

Zeff, who also owns the Priority Parking lots, said he hasn't ruled out a mixed-use redevelopment on the Harv's site – with a carwash as the anchor tenant, of course.

Knowles' lease with Mike Brown, who owns the City Suds building and property, lasts until 2011. After that, he said, there's no telling what that corner might become.

"It's a prime piece of real estate, there's no question about that," he said. "The question is, in this economy, what's going to work?"

Downturn aside, there seems to be no question midtown, and 19th and L in particular, will continue its climb. But as old and new increasingly share space, the important thing, suggested Jade Saelao, who works nearby, will be to successfully balance the neighborhood's past with its future.

"It would be sad to lose those old Victorians," she added.

That said, she'd really like to see a grocery store on that corner, please.