748-752 Ninth

What spot was 9th St. Bakery in before it moved to the current Elmo's Diner location? I don't think it's been listed in any of the postings.

a nice shot here hinting at the trash pickup problem. walk down ninth street on sunday and odds are the trash containers are overflowing and then some. (they don't pick up trash between sat early am and monday am)

If the city/9th street folks want to be serious about this being a destination place and encourage visitors and shoppers, etc then you'd think they solve a small problem like keeping the sidewalks from being trash dumps.

9th Street Bakery was immediately north of Barnes Supply (Elmo's Diner), but I'm not sure if it took up that entire building, or just a portion.

Eric

Wait about 15 hours. Elmo's et al will be profiled next week.

GK

the trash problem is out of control. haven't been able to eat outside at banh's for weeks now due to all the flies.

Is there some sort of business association on Ninth Street? I've never understood why there would ever be copious amounts of trash in a shopping district. If each shop owner just took responsibility for making sure there was no trash outside of their establishment, this wouldn't be an issue and it would make their businesses more attractive.

Or better yet, come up with a collective plan to deal with the trash issue! Sorry, but there is just no excuse for this. Between the trash issue, the fact that there is no website for the district (I remember seeing one a couple years ago that was at least 3-4 years out of date, so maybe no site is better than an inaccurate one), and the general lack of quality pedestrian amenities, it's kind of amazing places can stay in business.

I love a lot of the businesses along 9th Street and I'm within walking distance of it, but I've only walked there once or twice in the past two years. If I want to walk to a commercial area in that part of Durham, I go to the stretch of Broad St with the Green Room/Watts Grocery, etc. or Brightleaf Square because they are much more pleasant areas.

I know there was a planning effort in Ninth Street - when are we going to see some results? How hard is picking up trash?!?

9th St. Bakery originally opened in one of the buildings in the 700 block before moving to where Elmo's is now. I have no idea which one, though.

When I got to NCSSM in '92, 748 was called "Mia Pizzeria." By 1999 when I got back, it had changed to "College Town Pizza." The assistant manager there named Chris (I forget his last name) took the same concept, added a few more vegetarian items, and changed the name to Kalisti, and was one of my favorite spots for a while. The slow economy of the early part of this decade did him in, and a branch of local chain Torrero's opened there for a few years. Some time around '06 or so, a latina woman from somewhere in Central America (can't remember her name or the country, unfortunately) opened Xiloa, which had spectacular food. Shortly after that, apparently Bill Fields decided that he didn't like her for whatever reason, so started a campaign of harassment against her, before she finally gave up and walked out.

If business owners are too ignorant or lazy to pick up trash in front of their own business (especially restaurants!) then they deserve to fail.

The "it's not my job" approach doesn't work. So many small business owners just don't get the basics and that's why they don't last.

I agree to a certain extent, but I think there is a pretty big environmental component here. If the area in front of a particular shop doesn't look very nice regardless of whether the owner picks up trash, puts out flowers, whatever, they are going to be less likely to spend their time trying to improve the exterior of their shop. It's gotta be pretty defeating to try to spruce up your storefront when there are ugly light poles and narrow sidewalks to work with (as is the case on Ninth St.).

In any kind of larger area, there needs to be a communal shift - even if you take good care of your shop (or house in a residential setting), if your neighbor is not, there is little incentive to continue to do so because so much of your value is tied up in the shopping district (or neighborhood) as a whole.

So yes, owners should take, well, ownership of improving the aesthetic of their store area. But in an area where there are lots of stores, just as much effort needs to be put in to beautifying the area collectively.

Ninth Street Bakery started in what is now Dain's Place. For years, Earth & Spirit occupied the space, followed by a sushi restaurant and the Peek-a-Boo Hotdogs.

there's no reason to call for the business owners to pick up trash. There are only 4 or 5 cans for the entire street! Please use your brains before you speak.

So I guess what you are saying is that all the trash from those businesses, including food waste from the restaurants, goes into those little bitty trash cans on the sidewalk. I would suggest they all have dumpsters in the back of their stores and if they were motivated to move the trash into the dumpsters their stores would look better.

"Please use your brains before you speak."

these are city-owned trash cans, many restaurants have outside seating, people produce trash, business owners probably do what they can but the city is responsible for emptying their own cans and letting the sidewalk become a festering mess (especially in the summer).

As a "new" business owner on Ninth Street i agree that a 9th St Business Association is well needed. Talk of organizing one has flown around ever since I moved into the area (2.5 years ago). However as you could imagine nothing has materialized.
So, I will do my best to offer an association to all business owners who are willing to join. This will take time but is needed for many reasons beyond trash.
I would also like to say that Ninth Street vendors should not be help accountable for the "trash problem." Gripe at the city and Duke University, for much of the weekend trash is due to them.
Look for our association in the near future.
Dain Phelan
Owner/Operator Dain's Place (754 9th St)

The sidewalks and storefronts along 9th St would also benefit from a steam cleaning -- it's just plain grimy! Don't get me wrong... I love the 9th St business area. My kids and I can often be seen riding our Razr scooters (slowly!) along the sidewalk, enjoying the scene. Don't change it, just clean it up a bit!!

There was a 9th St. Merchants Association a while back (I even went to a meeting once as a representative of OWDNA), but I think it went defunct when John Browner, the chief organizer of it, left town.

Those damn customers putting trash in the trash cans. If we didn't have all this foot traffic in front of our shops we'd be rid of the trash and we'd have peace, quiet and sanitation. Go away people!

EEGAD. No wonder merchant turnover on that street is so high. Get yourselves organized folks.