My father, in his weekly phone call on Sunday, let me know about an article in the Saturday Seattle Times that took a look at our very own N. Mississippi Ave. I gave it a quick look online, as I always like to see how the outside world sees areas of our town, and as is usually the case, while there are some good points made about the changing of the neighborhood over the last few years — and the reporter appears to think that someone snapped their fingers and created the Mississippi we know today nearly overnight — overall, it’s a pretty shallow glance at the street, though there are some interesting historical tidbits laid out by Kay Newell, the owner of SunLan Lighting, who has been on the street longer than just about any other business there.

While there are a few other businesses and owners interviewed, there’s no mention made (except in the sidebar) of some of the more prominent and established places on the street like the Crow Bar, Video Verit√©, and Pistils Nursery. The author seemed to go out of his way to establish the hipsterness of the street by talking to the owner of the newly-opened Moloko Plus while ignoring the more laid-back, post-hipster vibe of the above-named places, along with storefronts like Laughing Planet, Salty’s Dog Shop, Amnesia Brewing, and Bridge City Comics. If you want to see hipsters, Seattlites, go to Hawthorne (for young, broke hipsters) or stroll around the Pearl (for sleek, yuppie hipsters) or Alberta (for a mix of the two). I’m probably a wee bit biased seeing as N. Mississippi is my adopted ‘hood, but it’s much more in tune with the surrounding people and area than a number of the other commercial streets in Portland.

The article also notes the recent filming on the street as a confimation of the author’s own premise that the street and the “good-looking young hipsters slumming at streetside tables” reminded him of a movie set more than a lived-in street, to which all I have to say is we must be watching totally different movies and living in completely different neighborhoods, though if he meant that in a “too good to be true” way, I’ll take it.