I walked into Hilltop Café on a Saturday night in late October, not expecting to encounter many Portlanders and expecting to have to hunt around the city during my limited hours to try and find mental maps. I was proven wrong, however, as the café stayed full from the time I entered around a quarter to six until closing time at seven. Unfortunately, the café closed before I could spend a full three hours people watching, but it was neat to observe the emptying and closing of the small café. I went into the city with four friends, and the café was too full for them to sit with me. They ordered drinks while I sat down to start my observations, and they were at the counter for about ten minutes. I later learned that there was a money mix-up, and the barista thought that my friends were trying to cheat her of $20. I observed this interaction, but did not overhear it all and was thus surprised to hear about this little miff at an otherwise quaint café.
The first couple that I talked to in the café were Munjoy Hill residents, but they had only lived in Portland for slightly over two months. The next three people that I talked to in the café, however, all lived in Munjoy Hill and were able to provide insight into my particular focus research field. All three interviewees expressed a desire for improved public transportation, including bus schedules posted at each bus stops, apps to tell you bus schedules (one woman said this would be helpful for her kids who take city buses to school), wifi for public buses, and greater frequency of buses to shorten the commute within the city. This was a very clear consensus that could be greatly improved by the implementation of a myriad of smart technology.
The second woman that I interviewed in the café has been a resident of Munjoy Hill for 15 years. She appeared slightly uncomfortable when I asked her about gentrification in the neighborhood, and she proceeded to identify as a gentrifier, making it seem like there was a stigma around gentrification. She explained that when she first moved to Munjoy Hill and bought her house for $99,000, her friends questioned why she would want to live in a seedy part of the city. Now she and her husband own and have refurbished another property which they rent out. She told me that she has been “priced out” and would not be able to afford her house now.
I found my final interviewee in a peppy ice cream shop in the touristy Old Port, Captain Sam’s Ice Cream. My friends and I entered around 9:00 pm right as this man and his two friends were getting ready to leave. The men were wearing shirts from work, and it seemed as if their shifts had just ended. When I approached the man and asked for a map, he was hesitant at first, and then he agreed. We sat down at a small table by the window and he quickly scribbled down his map. After less than a minute, his friends came over and started razzing him and telling him to quit “doing arts and crafts.” They were clearly ready to go, and although I tried to explain to them that he was helping me out with a research project, they were persistent.
Their buddy got up to go after just about two minutes on the map and they left before I could ask him any questions. It turns out he left his ice cream on the table, so he was back shortly after, but he clearly came back for the ice cream and not my research. This encounter, though limited in the direct information that he provided me, showed an interesting encounter between three working class men and a privileged college student. It seemed as if the men felt uncomfortable in the situation, and I felt uncomfortable as well. It was a surprising environment for the reunion of two different kinds of people, but the limited information the man provided and the context of the encounter nicely supplemented and contrasted the three maps that I collected at the café.
Café ethnography (Hilltop Café):
5:50
-man drawing, twenties, white
-woman on ipod, twenties, white, E. Promenade
-man and woman with coffee, Nalgene, ipad and laptop, hushed voices
-woman with earbuds in couch (runner?)
-older man and woman at table
-two men, 30s, leaving, one with backpack
-woman in 30s-40s, on laptop
-man, younger an and woman, family? Talking
-quiet music
-pretty crowded
-1 barista
6:00
-family (boy, girl man and woman, older man), woman taking photos
-man next to me copying sketch from his phone
-man across with woman and older man balancing phone against vase
-takes about 5 minutes for barista to process order
-man and woman next to me talking at intervals
-barista talking to customers about money (cash mixup?)
-barista giving back money because she trusts them, seems uncomfortable
6:15
-no turnover
-barista in back breaking down cardboard boxes
-woman I interviewed reading fashion magazine
-couple next to me talking again, quietly
6:25
-couple next to me leaving, both have backpacks
6:35
-corner older couple moved out
-man still sketching
-friend with me reading for class
-man with woman and older man looking at phone, still semi-engaged
-family smiling and laughing-man (dad?) with arm around boy (son?)
-family leaving now-lost the 5th older person
-mom scolding daughter for leaving trash on table
-table next to me, 3 tables at other end, 1 chair open
-2nd woman I interviewed getting up to leave, also has backpack
6:40
-barista asks to clear 1st-interviewees dishes
-asks to bring artist paper cup for tea-asks when they close, she responds 7, she wants to do dishes I think
-outlet behind me
6:45
-first interviewee leaves
-friend leaves
-barista walking around cleaning up
-man at the bar, talking to barista
6:50
-woman walks in, asks how long they’re open-doesn’t want to impose
-barista is friendly to her
-woman is probably 20s-30s, earring
-woman leaves after about 5 minutes
6:55
-barista announces closing in 5 minutes
-man walks in a few minutes before closing, urban outfitters bag
-talks to barista-probably friends
-man, woman, older man (family I think) get up to leave, only woman has messenger bag
-woman in seat packs up , laptop plugged in behind seat (takes a few minutes to pack up)-backpack and tote back w/ laptop, holding keys
-man who just walked in sits down across at table, takes off hat
-barista takes trash to back
-barista jokingly puts trash bag on friend
-barista talking about foam levels on capuccions-mentions coffe by design
7:10
-artist leaves
-I leave
-barista’s friend is still sitting at table
-barista is cleaning up
Mental Maps:
So interesting that even the gentrifiers are being gentrified!
I’m intrigued by your encounter with the working class men. Why do you think it was so awkward? Why do you think they were so much less willing to participate? I wonder if other students in our class had similar experiences. I remember asking a working class man for a mental map and he was completely willing to tell me about his experience of Portland but was unwilling to draw anything, so I couldn’t include him as one of my participants. There is clearly a probability that our collective mental maps represent only a small fraction of Portland residents. I wonder if we could have tried to figure out a way to be more inclusive towards people outside of the “educated upper-class” in order to create collective maps that better represent the entirety of the Portland residential body.
I was intrigued by the reaction of the self-identified gentrifier. Its good to see that gentrification, even in this very small way, is not devoid of conscience – at least in an acknowledgment of its controversy.
I had a similar encounter to your Captain Sam’s interview. My friend and I were walking down Congress Street and passed some seemingly off-duty firefighters chatting. When I went in to ask them for a mental map, one man agreed, but his friends teased him endlessly for it. He had to leave about a minute in to the drawing after the station got a call, but it was interesting to observe their reaction to the work we’re doing.
Also: “barista jokingly puts trash bag on friend” HA
I’m a bit surprised too that Hilltop was so crowded around dinner time–and with families, too, it seems. For me, cafes are morning places.
Anyways, I’m most interested by your interview with the self-identified gentrifier. To go off of Hannah’s point, I’m still unsure about gentrification as a process That is, I know I’m supposed to see it as a great evil, but it seems hard to blame any one individual or set of individuals. And it seems inevitable–the price to pay for our capitalist economic system?
Not to continue the trend of our housing compatriots, but I also found it very interesting that your gentrifying interviewee seemed to recognize the stigma and subsequently tell you her story in real estate terms. Though affordability of housing is always a factor, I’m curious how this woman’s willingness to admit her socioeconomic role in Munjoy Hill’s transformation would differ from the even wealthier residents of the West End or East Bayside inhabitants who have struggled to hold onto their homes.
I also find the mentions of public transportation interesting. I was under the impression that the buses were unreliable and underutilized. I am glad to be proven wrong, but do these modes of transportation serve all parts of Portland sufficiently? Has Munjoy Hill service been enhanced since the area became more desirable?