This building was originally built around 1920 as a fire house. The one that replaced it is a few blocks away and probably dates from the 1960s. When I first stopped in, only the main front room was in use, as a muti-stall food market that would struggle to stay open year after year and was sometimes vacant for extended periods. This last renewal has evidently worked because, now and for several years, the entire structure is filled and doing well. The main space in front is a brew pub, and above it is a collectively owned bike shop that keeps the neighborhood rolling. Above that, at the top, is an acupuncture studio that I've been meaning to try out. Lastly, at left on street level, is the cafe where I and many people I know eat, read, write, surf the web, and swallow coffee on a daily basis, and which served for about two years as a police "mini-station." Across the street is a small park which adds much life to the picture, but that's a whole 'nother blip.

The neighborhood is very fortunate that this structure did not fall into hopeless disrepair while it was empty or near-empty. Now it seems like a magnet for local imagination and friendly industry. When I wake tomorrow I'll head over there on my bike for a coffee, as I so often do.