The Twenty People Who Changed Downtown Durham

I've recently been working with a self-appointed task force from ATC (led by Michael Goodmon of Capitol Broadcasting and owner of ATC) that has been charged with trying to reduce the amount of aggressive panhandling and criminal behavior among the unhoused in Downtown Durham. There have been assaults, vandalism, threats, sexual misconduct, destruction of property, you name it. Servers and bartenders afraid to go to their cars from their place of work. So much so that City Council and the Durham Police and the DA have all assembled to talk about it. Hoteliers are saying that people won't book because they feel unsafe here. When it gets down to it, it's agreed that it is mainly 20 or so "frequent flyers" that are the primary cause of the issue, who are habitually arrested and then released on unsecured bail, who often are in and out of the EDs.

Prior to the meeting, this was my email to the group trying to gather my thoughts on the issue:

Friends,

It was the fall of 2009, and I was headed off of the BQE and onto the Jersey turnpike trying to make Philly by nightfall. It was raining and I was in a heated conversation with my best friend. Too late, I realized I took the North exit instead of South. Classic mistake. The helpful lady at the next North exit toll booth, upon hearing my plight, said, "Do you want to pay more?", which I didn't understand. She then screamed at me, "DO YOU WANT TO PAY MORE?" I got the gist of it then, paid the toll and got on the turnpike headed South.

So many times at the bakery, I've tried to take a shortcut, to squeeze a little more life out of a machine, or a delivery van, or a cooler, and ended up paying more.

Why would it be any different when we're talking about the unhoused humans of Durham?

That it has taken a confluence of factors to get us into this bind implies that it will take a host of solutions to get us out. We can't just "lock 'em up", nor do I want to. Involuntary hospitalization or commitments (á la Eric Adams) should be our last resort.

If the city is looking down the barrel of $XX million in potential lost revenue per year and the closing of some of its tastiest restaurants, why wouldn't they pay the $2-3 million to get the frequent fliers into paid permanent supportive housing with caseworkers? This seems like a great ROI, and the right thing to do.

Listening to our esteemed colleagues, Russ, Sheldon, and Colin, I feel confident that real dollars, with the support of the business community and the police, can create methods of deterrence and diversion that will significantly lessen the perception that Downtown is unsafe.

The other thing to remember is that we are still only a couple years out of lockdown. All those habits of being comfy/cozy in one's home are still there for many of our customers. They're still going out, but they go out less. There is more entertainment, and more perceived safety in the home. Everything can be delivered. People are anxious or awkward about socializing. And inflation has made things more expensive and cut into guests' discretionary income, making them feel frugal even when they have the accumulated savings to afford a splurge or a dinner out.

I really appreciate Michael and his convening of these folks to talk openly and honestly about doing business downtown. Just like it only took a couple million to get DDI off the ground and kickstart Downtown revival, if we are willing to be level-headed about it, paying the right amount to resolve this safety issue will be seen as pragmatic and humanist in the long run. Demonizing city officials or the poor or the mentally ill less so.

The personality of a city is like topsoil - an inch takes 200 years to accumulate, but could be wiped out in one year of bad agricultural practices. Likewise, all the work of revitalizing Durham could evaporate quickly if we do not act. To love on Durham right now means swallowing some of the fear and panic of losing revenue, and even one's business, and making concerted, pragmatic choices as a group. I hope we can all support each other in this, and draw strength from one another to imagine a better future. I am open to creative solutions, because it will be our creativity, openness, and work ethic, and not our fear, that will see us through.

Best,

Ari Berenbaum

Owner 

Ninth Street Bakery

RIP A Southern Season

 https://indyweek.com/food-and-drink/how-southern-season-a-chapel-hill-foodie-dream-met-its-end/

Best of 2024

NSB Benefit: Pancake Brunch for WNC

Diss track since Ether: Not Like Us

Burger of the moment: The Oklahoma patty smash with onions (e.g. Patty Boy; How-to)

Album for breathwork: Black Classical Music, Yussef Dayes (Billie Holiday of the drums)

Bagels: Isaacs

Asian: Roses

Sandwiches: Ideal's Deli

Secret Bar: Delafia (aka Pasta Illegal)

Bar to read poetry in: Delafia

Instagram acct: @Teapotcraftsman

Opening: Redstart Takeaway

Tap list: Daily Beer Bar 

Public intellectual: Adam Tooze

General interest podcast: Ezra Klein

Anticipated opening: Prime STQ

Place to find people smoking at the bar like it’s 2009: The indoor “patio” at Kickback Jacks 

Album: Two Star and the Dream Police, Mk.gee

Nu Soul Album: Acts of Faith, Sault

Words of the year: holding space; spicy; doomscroll

Most expensive donuts: Isaac's sufganiyot, $52/dozen.

The picture that started it all (Chad Robertson)

(More)

Beefsteak Etiquette

Still a masterful essay from Joseph Mitchell.

https://medium.com/@Beefsteak/all-you-can-hold-for-five-bucks-dc945bba60d

Baker's Dozen and The "Schmear"

 There are a few theories as to why a baker’s dozen became 13, but the most widely accepted one has to do with avoiding a beating. In medieval England there were laws that related the price of bread to the price of the wheat used to make it. Bakers who were found to be “cheating” their customers by overpricing undersized loaves were subject to strict punishment, including fines or flogging.  - Brittanica.com

Schmear (n.) - also schmeer, 1961, "bribery," from Yiddish shmir "spread," from shmirn "to grease, smear," from Middle High German smiren, from Old High German smirwen "to smear" (see smear (v.); compare slang grease (someone's) palm "to bribe"). - Etymologyonline.com

In Brooklynese, the "schmear" is both cream cheese and a bribe. As you place the money in the hand, the two hands slide schmearing as on a bagel.

Walkable Durham

With Beyu and Copa closing recently, the wake-up call that remote work has hit the businesses serving non-residential city centers has become more real. Jack Tar closed last year. Pompieri closed as well. While new businesses will likely grow into these spaces, one has to wonder whether we will see more closings in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Novus rises 27 stories above, casting an ominous shadow over the bakery. While I'm not a fan of much of the new construction architecturally, I have been supporting population-dense building ever since I was a member of Carrboro's Peak Oil Meetup in the aughts. Ultimately, we need cities that are more population-dense, walkable, and bikeable. We need cities that preserve green space and can control congestion and reduce or eliminate cars. The building needs to be affordable to middle class folks and we need new and better public housing for low-income folks. Will cities like Durham begin to look more like New York, and less like Raleigh?

New Breweries in Durham

With four new breweries either opening or recently opened (I count DSSOLVR, Flying Bull, Atomic Clock, and Proximity, am I missing one?), one might think that the booze market here in Durham is getting oversaturated.

I distinctly remember Fullsteam opening in 2010 and its packed taproom was the default event venue for baby showers and birthdays, complete with links from the Farmhand Foods (now Firsthand Foods) truck. 

Soon thereafter (2015), Ponysaurus took the reins as the go-to brewery location for local hangs. With  the crowds now in abeyance from both those locations (are we just going out less?), I ask have we passed Peak Beer, or is this just a build-out for a more populous future in the Downtown district? Or are these breweries the pet projects of well-funded amateurs investing in a declining business model?

The Future of Restaurant Wages

 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/dining/restaurant-minimum-wage-tipped-workers-dc.html

Best of 2023

Styles: Yussef Dayes

Israel reporting: Ezra Klein

Live Cut: Tioga Pass

Podcast: Ezra Klein with Demis Hassabis

Ink: 2 Cranes

Holiday Gift: Queen George's Ginger, Lil' Farm

Anticipated Opening: Missy Lane Assembly Room 

Duke Takedown: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/07/magazine/duke-economic-diversity.html

Cocktails: Arcana

Album: Black Classical Music, Yussef Dayes

Concept Bar: Night School

Restaurant: Little Bull

Bar to Dodge a Cell Signal: Accordion Club 

Boutique: Parker & Otis

Burger: Alley 26

Bagels: Isaac's

Croissant Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChkPfd_uh4r/?img_index=1

Chef in America: Corey Lee (Benu)

New Opening: Cheeni Durham

Coffeeshop Vibe: Cocoa Cinnamon Hillsborough Rd.  

Food Writing: https://www.southernfoodways.org/a-crowded-table/

Meal: Elena, Montreal

Espresso Drinks: Joe van Gogh 

Words: Brittle; Cringe; Gentleness

This is how we talk now: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsL1VR6ObXn/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Uglification of Durham: Atlas Durham; The Vega

Artisan Baker Raven Norris

Hi!

My name is Raven Norris and I'm the Artisan Bread Baker here at Ninth Street Bakery. I grew up

on the small island of Ocracoke, NC where I spent most of my time on a surfboard or waiting

tables to save up for a new one. 

As I watched my home get all but washed away during Hurricane Dorian in 2019, something was telling me I probably needed a change and moved to Durham on a whim shortly thereafter. 

Flash-forward to April of 2023 -- a desire to pursue a career in baking led me to Ninth Street. Coming in with very little experience, the plethora of knowledge that has been gifted to me from everyone here is priceless. My passion for the craft has become so immense and I feel so lucky to come to work and do what I love surrounded by lovely people. The only feeling that rivals taking a beautifully risen batard out of the oven, is the one I get when I look across the bakery and see a customer like you taking one home to share with friends or family.

If there are fresh baguettes in the basket, I'm around so don't be a stranger. I'm always happy to

answer any questions you may have about the bread or just say hello :)

Murders in Durham

The recent spate of violence in Durham is nothing like what is happening now in Portland, but for anyone who works Downtown, the increased violence and schizophrenia of the panhandling and unhoused community is well known. In a terrible quote from the Times article above,

He estimated that based on the body’s temperature, this victim had been dead for more than an hour, which meant dozens of commuters had walked by his body during rush hour before one stopped to check his breathing and call 911.

Monday, a Duke grad student was murdered, and the man held in custody is someone known to the bar and restaurant industry of Durham as a regular.

Last night at 11pm, my own neighbor in Northgate Park was shot at in his car as he pulled in. In the morning, I found the car window punctured with a bullet hole, and four spent casings littered the curb next to my eucalyptus tree. Thirty people have been shot and killed this year in Durham, and 115 non-fatally. Growing up, the only pops I heard where from a tennis court nearby my home. Now I have to tell my son not to be scared when he hears gunshots.

Implicit in the Times article is that we are all complicit in the stepping around of a dead body laying out in the street. Two months ago, arriving at work, a Durham ambassador told me as I stepped out of my car, "You got a body in your bathroom". There was a man sprawled out on the bakery customer bathroom floor, a dirty knee twisted as if to draw a perfect chalk outline. He could have been sleeping, so I spoke to him. No reply. Not even a flickering of the eyelids. His skin color was between olive and gray. I yelled louder. No response. Should I check to see if he's breathing? Five minutes later, I put 911 on speakerphone. After a couple minutes, the sound of the dispatcher must have roused him. He got up and scampered away, leaving his phone charging in the wall outlet.

We depend on our City officials to provide safety and security for the residents. We depend on first responders to handle crisis situations. We depend upon the health care system to tend to mental illness and addiction. We depend on the legal and penal system to provide pathways to rehabilitation for offenders. Right now, none of these systems are working, either independently or together. It's enough to give you a panic attack.

That is exactly what happened to me. In the second year of Covid (2022), I began getting panic attacks from the overwhelm of everything that was going wrong. I eventually began seeing a holistic chiropractor/therapist and went down the path of becoming a trained breathwork guide and ice therapy coach. It's helped. And I've been able to train others. For every systemic malfunction, there are people like Michael Bock who are like Jedi, like angels literally trying to "hold back the ocean". The ocean is coming, and the question remains what we're going to do about it.

Sights and sounds

Anywhere are you go in Durham you can hear the pop of a nail gun hitting timber for a new four-on-one development.

Pizzeria Ida

 https://artofeating.com/can-i-get-you-something-else/

Orwasher's Rye

 https://twitter.com/insiderfood/status/1628175987837140993?s=27

Tassajara and the Zen Roots of Ninth Street Bakery

 

Isaac’s Bagels: An Appreciation

I got to know Isaac Henrion his second week distributing bagels at the Burch Ave community garden. I introduced myself, him in his trademark leather jacket, bandana, and occasionally incomprehensible UK accent. Thinking I was out to compete with him, he was suspicious of my interest in his business, and his bagels. What he later learned was that it was actually an obsessive interest in bagels and baking that made the connection.

From that time on, we would periodically meet to discuss his business prospects and his strategy leading to his hoped-for bricks and mortar.  As a more seasoned baker and entrepreneur, I gave him what advice I had, and counseled him to keep his head up in the short down period between the end of the Queeny’s residency and his entry to the Durham Farmer’s market. I also got to bake with him one morning at the commissary, which was good fun (he lost his van keys in walk-in right before market lol). Now, with a storefront being built, I think it would only be fitting to this blog to run through the things I think his bagels do very well. Controlling the variables of any bake process is very hard, and especially bagels, since the boil creates a multi-step cook/bake where many things can go wrong for a novice. It is expensive and more time-consuming the way he does it, but I think it’s completely worth it. These bagels are better than your typical New York bagel, which I find to be satisfying, but generally too squishy, over-sweetened, and underfermented.

1. He uses a special method to pre-hydrate part of the flour, leading to moist, supple, dense crumb.  

2. He uses copious liquid sweetener in the boil to give the crust the requisite sheen and caramelization.  

3. He doesn’t skimp on seeding, seeding both sides of the bagel completely.  

4. He uses a long fermentation process to yield maximum flavor.  

5. He uses a proprietary flour containing whole wheat that gives the bagels more depth of flavor than your typical all hi-gluten white-flour variety.

6. He has an excellent everything bagel mix, and uses high quality rock salt.

7. All bagels are rolled by hand.

Ed Espe Brown: Compared to What?

 

Ari Making Stollen

 https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/human-interest/2022/12/21/bakeries-busy-season-during-holidays#

End of an Era: Public Hardware

 https://www.wral.com/durham-s-public-hardware-store-closing-after-98-years/20584880/