Photos: Construction of the Science Classroom Building

The Seward neighborhood is bound on the north by I-94, on the east by the Mississippi River, on the south by 27th Street East, and on the west by Hiawatha Avenue. It’s an interesting place; a mixture of industrial grey and lush green. Matthews Park shares space with a factory row, the Hexagon butts up to empty lots full of broken driftwood and chipboard, murals dot the landscape and the dumpsters are plentiful fonts of bread and cookies. As many people are going home as are passing through and the old man in the window of the guitar shop never sleeps.

Coffee shops, it seems, were the first against the wall when the recession-panic hit. In the past few years, coffee shops and other small-scale eateries have been closing left and right. It’s particularly tragic because of the nature of these establishments; locally owned and operated businesses not only provide a homegrown alternative to obnoxious/rapacious chains and provide the sort of character that makes a city a city, they also serve as neighborhood community centers. Their closure marks not just the loss of another coffee joint but, rather, the changing of a community’s landscape.

Supporting local businesses, then, becomes more important than it ever was. As community members, the simplest contribution we can make is to support local businesses and ensure that our communities aren’t overrun by chains who have no interest in investing in our communities. If you’re a freshman or new to dinkytown, you might want to pay a visit to Bordertown at 16th and University, Espresso Royale at 14th and 4th, or Muddsuckers at Como and 15th. Over in Seward, there’s Hard Times Cafe at 19th and Riverside, Seward Community Cafe at 21st and Franklin and 2nd moon Cafe at 22nd and Franklin. Just, please, whatever you do, don’t just go to Starbucks or McDonalds. To paraphrase Tupac, they don’t give a fuck about us.

With that in mind, we present a visual salute to the disappearing institution of the neighborhood coffee shop.