I stopped at Ciao's [my spelling; it's more likely Chou, but it's all about the pronunciation, anyway] restaurant, Bayou on 1st, shortly before closing time one night. She had the door blocked with chairs so I called in to make sure she was open. She was just mopping, so I came in to eat. She kept watching the door, nervous. A young man looked in the window, then came in, grabbed a menu, set it at the bar and continued on to the restroom, which Ciao usually keeps locked, but had the mop bucket in the doorway at this time. She rushed back, shut the door and told him it was closed for cleaning. He made a fuss and then left. She explained to me that he is one of the habitual addicts who frequent the neighborhood, supporting the local plague of drug dealers. He's been in before, and at neighboring shops, leaving without paying or grabbing something and running. He is befuddled enough to forget that she knows who he is. She was still nervous and called her husband Haji, who came in to stay until closing time.
Small business owners like Ciao are a very important part of a true urban neighborhood, meaning compact and dense enough to support neighborhood retail uses. Those people who come from a culture of neighborhood shopkeepers, such as we have in our market, are key figures in building and maintaining a sense of community. The neighborhood shopkeeper is something almost lost in our own culture so our shopkeepers are often from elsewhere. There are exceptions, though. Jack Levy at Three Girls Bakery, who figures significantly in the functioning of the neighborhood, is one of those who grew up in the tradition of the market, working at a family stand, then coming back later to buy his own business. The continuous functioning of the market for over one-hundred years has kept many traditions of local culture alive.
I am often unable to go visit family at the traditional holiday times. Ciao cooks the food that I grew up eating at family meals, and I frequently go there. She is Vietnamese, Haji is from the Middle East, and they serve the best Cajun food as required by market historical rules. I went there for a Thanksgiving day gumbo. Ciao's niece Vi was working, and Vi's husband and small daughter Katy came in to visit. Some of Ciao's other regular customers were there and we all had a great visit with her family, with children dancing around the floor. Ciao usually offers me some unusual fruit I haven't had before. Recently she gave me a fresh pickle of carrot, daikon and lotus root, which she said is a tradition for the lunar New Year. I was very pleased, as I had missed my own traditional New Year meal of blackeyed peas and cabbage and the pickle was delicious. I felt that my luck for the year was restored. From very different backgrounds we manage to produce a lot of commonality. The Latin for "together" is the root for commerce and for community.
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