After spending time in Portland, observing at the café, collecting maps, and doing the transect walk, I have a much more comprehensive view of the people and the issues of the city.

Personally, I find people-watching fascinating, so I really enjoyed doing so with a more critical eye at the café. Cafés are fascinating places to do this type of work because of how amorphous they are – they can be spaces for solitary work, spaces for socialization, spaces for reflection and spaces for relaxation. The patrons I observed utilized the space for all of those purposes and more, supported by the café’s supply of toys, books and a piano. As Arabica is located in an urban center separated from Portland residential life, and many residents I have spoken to tend to keep their distance from the Old Port, it is plausible that many customers were tourists or visitors. Demographically, the crowd was quite racially homogenous. Throughout the couple of hours I was there, it became a younger and hipper scene, aligning with the “hipster” vibe described on Yelp.

I was intrigued by the prominence of Apple logos, as well as the phenomenon of people sitting across from each other scrolling on their individual phones, even children. In my Interactive Resource Map App idea from Post #2, I suggested that businesses might post about particular services like free wi-fi or food. It would be fascinating to gauge Arabica’s (and other cafés’) interest in participating in this app. I would imagine that different neighborhoods would have different staked interests – business owners in Old Port, as a tourist center, might be less interested as the presence of homeless and at-risk citizens might drive visitors away.

Talking with the man who drew my fourth mental map was particularly interesting. I approached him outside of Preble Street, and he was very quick to comment that he was a full-time chef and was not homeless, though he had been previously. Describing Portland as a “cesspool,” he lamented the lack of affordable housing, which “makes it impossible for people to get on their feet.” He noted that he does not think he is “better than anybody else,” but he finds Preble Street’s housing first model unfair for people that are more committed and more likely to make positive change in their lives. Before chatting with him, I had only heard Preble Street’s housing first model discussed reverently. I never thought I would hear the accessibility of the organization criticized by somebody that uses its services. Hearing this perspective changed my understanding of the dynamics of homelessness and outreach programs – I had not fully considered the issue of stratified groups within shelters. Going forward, I definitely would like to hear more from viewpoints of people who use Preble Street’s services to get a fuller understanding of its workings and effectiveness.

My conversation with the woman who drew my third map confirmed my earlier concerns in Post #4 about climate change impacting a coastal port city. When asked if she had suggestions to better Portland, she commented that the city should work on developing infrastructure and housing in Back Cove in light of frequent flooding and rising sea level. These are incredibly important concerns that often get put on the back burner, so I was grateful to be reminded to acknowledge the role of climate change in Portland’s future.

Cafe Ethnography

Saturday October 4
Arabica Café (Formerly Café Crema…ambiance described as “hipster” on Yelp)
9 Commercial St., Portland

2:40 pm
-The café is on Commercial St, so we’re right on the water and there’s a lot of salt in the air. There is an enormous cruise ship looming over the docks, much larger than the buildings in my line of sight. Trolleys keep passing by, one of them sponsored by Whole Foods and another sponsored by Shipyard.
-The café is pretty crowded. There is an interesting age range – primarily babies and elderly people. There are a few people on laptops and on dates, some people at the bar on cell phones, some couples reading or chatting. There are a lot of paintings up on the walls – a bunch of trees and flowers, a butterfly, a fish. Pretty standard coffee shop stuff.
-The line is daunting. I’m waiting for it to die down before I get some much needed coffee but it seems to keep growing.
-People scatter around the spacious interior of the café after getting their beverage but almost everybody stops at the table stocked with sugar, milk, napkins, and stirrers.
-The apple logo is everywhere you look. My friend’s Dell stands out in the crowd.
-Children congregate around the gelato case.
2:50
-A girl with a stuffed animal monkey hangs on her mother’s arm and begs for gelato. A boy walks by with a couple of bike tires draped around his torso like a sash and opens the door for a stream of customers.
3:00
-The girl with the monkey got gelato after all – success.
-A mother with a large camera takes a photo of her son biting into a brownie. The boy’s sister plays with one of the toys provided by the café. Her brother joins her. Now they’re both clutching the same toy. A fight is brewing… “Daddy, he’s not sharing. I hate boys.”
-The workers here seem pretty scattered. They run around and deliver people’s orders.
-A woman walks in with a young girl on her shoulders. A boy in line with his mother swings her hand back and forth and laughs somewhat maniacally.
3:10
-A woman walks by and asks us what discipline we’re studying. She tells us that she teaches medicine.
-My friend Elisabeth is taking photos for her photography class. She takes a picture of the gelato. “That was fun,” she says. Word.
-There’s a small bookcase behind us next to an antique piano. The Hunger Games, Chuck Palahniuk, Agatha Christie. A kid screams about a puppy.
-My friend Sabrina got an enormous cappuccino and it’s making me rethink my apprehension about the line.
3:20
-I didn’t see it but apparently a man biked by the window wearing the hat of a “roman soldier.”
-A grey haired man with a rattail runs into a family he knows and everybody hugs.
3:30
-Time to brave the line. The crowd has thinned out a bit. Can’t tell if I should wait at my table or wait by up by the bar. Table.
3:40
-A woman wearing all red and many tattoos wipes off the central milk/sugar/spices table and retrieves stray mugs from around the room.
3:50
-Older friends meet up and exclaim, “They changed the name!”
-People walk by outside under umbrellas and wearing raincoats.
-The cruise ship is still hanging out (named Arcadia, like the Preble St. bar), the American flag is still waving on top. Is this a vacation cruise? Pretty dreary weather…I learned a bit about the social dynamics of Maine tourism this summer and I’m curious about the transition from summer to fall.
-Engaging in people-watching commentary and staring at this massive cruise ship is making me want to reread “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.”
4:00
-We’re collectively unhappy about the outlet situation. (There are very few, and none of them close to us.) Sabrina is keeping tabs on the movements of the “two old men in back” sitting at the table with outlet access.
4:10
-The two old men have exited and I’ve snagged a prized outlet spot. Brightness is up, phone is charging. What luxury.
4:20
-My new vantage point now includes the rattail guy & family from earlier. The young girl in pink taps furiously on a phone screen, brow furrowed in concentration, as the adults around her chat. A woman in a flannel sits and reads at the bar.
-The ones who didn’t know the café changed its name stand up and exit.
-I think everybody who was in here when we arrived has left by now. Our crew has spread itself out around the café as if by osmosis.
4:30
-A guy just walked in in a bright yellow disposable plastic poncho. He’s owning it.
-The man behind him in line has the word ‘SUPERVISOR’ printed on his back. He’s glancing shiftily around the café, looking very alert. He’s doing a great job.
-An older couple to the left of me sits across from each other and scrolls through their individual phones, occasionally showing each other a photo and giggling.
-There is a minor kerfuffle at the register because they are out of caramel.
4:40
-Oh no, I smell a banana in the vicinity. I’m terrified of bananas.
-The young girl in pink has put the phone down and her chin is on the table in a display of boredom.
-Sabrina comes over to ask if I can hear the music, which she describes as weird and “whisper-y.” She suggests that I move over to join her at her table, from which I’d have a perfect line of vision to the rattail man, access to the sounds of the weird music, and – most importantly – distance from the banana. She is very convincing and I agree.
4:50
-The demographics have changed significantly since we first walked in. The scene is much younger and trendier, with almost no families or kids.
-A bald man behind me asks for the wifi password. It’s espresso.
-Sabrina asks me if I noted the floating door. I hadn’t. There’s a door about a story up the wall toward the back of the café, very much floating as described. She is very helpful. She shows me a video of thirteen dogs jump roping. It’s really worth a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtwPzyppOyY
-The man and the family are leaving. He is welcome to visit them any time. Lots of smiles and good feeling and jokes about the weather. Haha, it snows a lot here.
5:00
-The music is decidedly weird – “It’s gotta chill,” says Sabrina. Lots of alternating growling and whispering.
-The cruise ship is moving now, trudging along parallel to the street as comparatively speedy cars zip by.
5:10
Heading out.

Mental Maps

-25 year old male
-Works in freelance
-Has lived in Portland for five years
-Lives in Munjoy Hill
-Wants the results of our study to be communicated back to Portland residents as opposed to “sitting in a warehouse,” but doesn’t want to be contacted about the study

-64 year old woman
-Gardens, cleans houses, helps with her husband’s carpentry business but is “semiretired”
-Has lived in Portland on and off since she was a kid, now commutes there for work. Lived in four different places in Munjoy Hill, one place in the West End, and one on Peak’s Island (now “Yuppie-ville)
-Her and her husband were “hippies” in conflict with the “greasers,” who threw beer cans at them. “When the greasers started doing drugs, everybody got along.”
-She lived in NYC out of high school, was “too stoned” to remember what part of the city though.
-On Portland gentrification, she commented that the city is “becoming an extension of Boston” and that Old Port, formerly dangerous, is now “money, money, money.”
-Emphasized walking, trees, and cemeteries (“Every cemetery is worth walking through.”)
-Expressed concern about the rising sea level, particularly in Back Cove, and suggested infrastructure to support flooding in that area
-Wants to be contacted about the study at [email protected]

-Alex, 25-year-old man
-Drives the Portland water taxi
-Went to high school and worked in Portland, has been living there again for a month on Anderson St.
-Suggested an app for public transportation schedules

-31 year old male
-Works as a chef
-Lives in the “western part down by Denny’s”
-Called Portland a “cesspool,” has lived in Burlington and believes it is an infinitely better city. Commenting on Portland’s skyrocketing homeless population, he noted that other cities are sending their homeless to Portland because of the city’s outreach programs
-I interviewed him outside of the Preble Street Resource Center. He said very quickly that he is not currently homeless, but was homeless in Burlington eight years ago.
-“I’m a chef, I work full time, and I can’t even afford to get an apartment.”
-The lack of affordable housing “makes it impossible for people to get on their feet.”
-Commenting on Portland’s skyrocketing homeless population: “All these other cities are sending these people here because Portland has outreach programs and stuff like that”
-He criticized Preble Street Resource Center’s housing first model. In a homeless shelter he stayed at in Burlington, “you had to show them some type of effort.” He commented that the Preble Street model “takes away” from “people who are capable of working,” from people who will be receptive to help and assistance. He also complained about the lack of follow up review.