The opening of Big Chair Coffee in Anacostia—and the discussions it's sparked about gentrification—has drawn the inevitable comparisons to Bloomingdale's Big Bear Cafe and its impact on the neighborhood. UrbanTurf DC blogger Mark Wellborn asks: "If You Build a Coffee Shop, Will the Hipsters Come?"
Well, it would not be the first time that a caffeine outpost was credited with spurring the trendiness of a D.C. neighborhood. Big Bear Cafe has done a lot to bolster the reputation of Bloomingdale, and Busboys and Poets on the ground floor of CityVista in Mount Vernon Triangle is one of the main things drawing people to the neighborhood centered around 5th and K Street.
There's no denying that Big Bear, whether you love it or loathe it, has changed the feel of the neighborhood. Credit needs to also be given to Windows Market and the nearby Timor Bodega, who have had a socioeconomic impact as well. The opening of Baraki will also have a major impact on Bloomingdale, though we'll have to wait until it opens to see what that might be.
17 comments:
if something inspires people, brings neighbors together, creates a deeper sense of place, then its beautiful.
that article you linked to though was schlock and showed a very shallow understanding of neighborhoods.
Sean, incorrect.
We don't want you whites in Anacostia.
You didn't want to come here before, so why now? You weren't helping us when we had one supermarket in the entire quadrant, so now that we've got a Harris Teeter, you want to come over here and shred what we've built.
GTFOH.
anon,
i'm sorry you feel that way and that you've been given reasons to feel that way.
i disagree with your conclusion of isolationism, but i don't come from where you come from, so maybe i'm bound to see it differently.
you may disagree with what i find beautiful, but its true for me, so it's not incorrect. just relative.
I agree with sean that inspiring neighbors and bringing them together is a beautiful thing, but Big Bear only brings together certain types of neighbors...or people who aren't from the neighborhood at all.
Let's be honest: most of the staff is white, most of the patrons are white, and the cost of breakfast for example ($9 for a latte & b'fast sandwich) is highly prohibitive for many local residents.
Big Bear may literally open its doors to all, but figuratively, they're closed to a large portion of the neighborhood.
I don't get what Anacostia has to do with Bloomingdale and Big Bear.
Come on Emily, do you expect them to give the food away at a loss? If you want the cheap stuff, go to the windows or any of the nearby "convenience" stores with plexiglass, single cigarettes and single beers. You have a choice. Big Bear has organic, high quality food, and SURPRISE, that costs some money. There prices are lower than all chains coffee houses, lower than busboys and poets, starbucks, Caribou, and many independents.
The neighborhood is growing. You have your low-cost options, and some of us WANT a higher quality food option, and yes, we can pay for it and we are moving to Bloomingdale. We welcome you to join us.
The reason why Anon is anonymous is because whatever was written isn't worth owning up to, much less reading. I've met whites whose families hail from Anacostia. Also Harris Teeter (see http://www.harristeeter.com/other/store_locator/store_locator.aspx) is NOT in Anacostia. All of SE isn't Anacostia. And SE Cap Hill is different than East of the River SE, and parts of East of the River are different from each other.
I don't know about ya'll, but when I am at Big Bear, I see all kinds of folks, young, old, black, white, mixed race, brown, hispanic, asian, male, female, GAY, straight, mixed sexuality, hell everyone. I wish there were more chairs so even more variety could sit down and join the table. More than that, I wish they were open later than 6pm so we could have neighborly bonding later into the evening, especially with a nice Belgium beer and some more delicious food.
The cheap pizza place, owned by the Ledroit Market dude is not going to cut it for me. I noticed they dropped the word Gourmet from the plans...hell, have you seen anything gourmet coming from that market? Just gormet single cans of beer costing 50 cents when water is 1.29.
Give us some real food options and some Big Bear @ Night fun.
Big Bear's clientele is probably driven by its hours of operation. There's definitely a wide socioeconomic strata in Bloomingdale, but many of us leave the neighborhood to go to work, and by the time we get back home, Big Bear is closed up. As a result, the folks who frequent Big Bear do tend to play to type.
Don't get me wrong--I love having Big Bear in the neighborhood, but if one were to make a Venn diagram of People Who Order Lattes at Big Bear and People Who Order Egg Rolls at Chinese Dragon, I'd be pretty damn surprised if there were any overlap.
I think you missed my poing, WCH. Cost is just one of the factors, but certainly not the most prohibitive one to eating/drinking there. I'm happy to support local, organic, sustainable, etc., just don't CLAIM that a place like Big Bear is somehow inclusive to everyone in the neighborhood and/or not a sign of gentrification.
And Big Bear (and the yoga studio, and Windows, and a bunch of other placees) owe their ability to do business in this neighborhood because of all the hard work put in by residents over the past years.
I DO wish they'd stay open later, as Loving suggests, and certainly I patronize the establishment because I believe in supporting small, local businesses.
But if you think more than a handful of your neighbors or a scant few of all the parishioners who worship on Sundays have even heard of Big Bear - let alone gone inside - then you're mistaken.
"But if you think more than a handful of your neighbors or a scant few of all the parishioners who worship on Sundays have even heard of Big Bear - let alone gone inside - then you're mistaken"
TBQH I think fewer MD-registered cars clogging up the 'hood on Sundays would a be distinct improvement.
Emily,
A note: I'm a "Bloomingdale" resident.
I love Big Bear. It's costly, though, so I only go when I have enough time to make it a hang out and not a quick stop. Then I'm paying for the atmosphere.
In my experience, they've never done anything intentional to exclude any part of the community. But I do think they attract a certain type of clientele. Some of their patrons commute. Some decide they'd like to live in a neighborhood with such a facility.
So I suspect the article's argument is right about gentrification. But I don't know if that's a bad thing. Otherwise, it's like saying that local people only want a certain type of experience. That they don't want the Manhattan experience.
The only thing I wish they'd do is stay open later. But given their location, I don't blame them. And since they don't really serve dinner items, i don't what they would do after 6pm. (BTW, I don't eat breakfast there because it's cheaper to make my own breakfast. but it is available in the mornings when neighborhood residents could go...)
Finally, the dirty secret is out. Big Bear isnt doing squat to expand the community. It's a business and one that imposes it will on poor neighbors to get what it wants to further the business (i.e. closing the street for the farmers market)
Im with lady from Anacostia, we don't want to be patronized by elite/white clientele in bloomingdale either
If the black people in Anacostia don't want the Big Chair Coffee, they can do what they have done to keep other businesses out. Just maintain the culture that is prohibitive to progress and investment. Big Chair along with the few whites that live nearby will be gone in short order. Then it will be back to the carryouts and bemoaning the lack of retail options.
I find it interesting that in nearly 100% black Anacostia, this coffee shop was opened by an Ethiopian family. Where are the black investors and businessmen to open these type of establishments in their community? One guaranteed way of getting what you want is to do it yourself. I don't see black people doing that when it comes to opening businesses.
you people knocking big bear sound like whiny children. it's a business and doesn't have to offer you anything nor does it have to expand our community. yet it does. more than any other business in the neighborhood. and by far. if you haven't noticed that you're blind.
exclusive? expensive? please. have you been to city cleaners? have you been to soul day spa? people don't even knock these places because they're so far off the radar. they haven't done shit.
when was the last time you saw Best Braids set up a fund raiser for victims of fire? or when Chinese Dragon offered to help out Haiti?
yet you want to kick big bear.
so what if the place is mostly white? do you insult b&j seafood because its mostly black?
Is jam doung a horrible place because no white people work there? or do you have excuses why they are immune to the eyes of bigotry?
for me, i don't care what the employees of a place or its patrons look like.
I live in Bloomingdale and have mixed feelings about Big Bear. There was life in the neighborhood before Big Bear, but yet the owners act like they run the place. Technically I guess I gentrified the neighborhood (pre-Big Bear)and can't wait for new places to come that treat those that actually live in the neighborhood respectfully. I do drop into Big Bear from time to time for a cup of coffee but try to avoid it whenever possible.
As a Bloomingdale resident, I find this thread bizarre. Different businesses serve different clienteles. Is there some argument that having Big Bear somehow precludes other food and drink options from opening up?
If anything, I'd think it's the opposite: Big Bear draws money into the neighborhood (as people who've said they attract an out-of-neighborhood clientele have admitted) which in turn shows the viability of neighborhood businesses which in turn makes it easier for people who'd like to open those businesses to get loans which in turn leads to more commerce options. That is to say, examples of successful businesses of one type help seed successful businesses of other types. So what's the issue here? People are against further tax revenue?
Post a Comment
Comment upon others as you would have them comment upon you.