A rainy weekend afternoon on Clinton Street.Cafe windows are fogged white.The grayness is dappled,here and there,with neon lights.Occasional families towing children in bright rain slickers and Technicolor galoshes,brave the rain for a walk around the neighborhood.Bicyclists pass with hissing tires,their faces bright and unconcerned despite the damp journey.
It's all so idyllic and serene.Even the hipsters seem subdued as they shuffle out of the bars on their way towards Saturday night.It would be easy to think that someone made up this entire scene,that some director yelled action and set his imagination in motion.
Several summers ago,I found myself at the corner of S.E.26th and Clinton streets for the first time.I felt as if I had stumbled onto some movie studio's back lot representation of small town Main Street.The cluster of shops and restaurants were like a village square,plopped down in the middle of a quiet neighborhood.The trees were full and green,people sat outside in the warmth eating and chatting.Music played from doorways.It was a bit shocking,really.I mean,there was even amovie theater.I had never heard of the Clinton corners before,but after seeing them for the first time,I was entranced.Less than a year later I had moved within five blocks of the corners and ever since,I have made the place my sanctuary.I have everything I need; all I have to do is walk a few blocks.
There is so much going on along Clinton Street,and its more outgoing neighbor,Division Street,that a person could spend every day in this inner southeast enclave and never get bored.It's all just a matter of knowing what and where.
Still,sometimes it's enough to just sit and watch the street life pass by on a rainy weekend afternoon.There is a certain magic in it.Sure,there are other places in the city that are as beautiful and vibrant,serene and lovely,but to me,they lack something.It might be the people who populate the neighborhood,the folks who chat with me from an adjacent barstool or smile as I pass on the sidewalk.It might be the charming,crazy-quilt aesthetic of the businesses.It might even be the cats,which emerge in the night to be stroked and to shadow the walk home.Whatever it is about this place,it has a hold on me.
