I was walking the pup last night and it was weirdly quiet, especially since the mae shi was playing at spaceland. It sounds ridiculous but I think it was the absence of Michelangelo. They aren't gone, just moved into the old Flor Moreno space, but for me, that seems miles away. What is happening to this neighborhood? One of my favorite things about living here in general and some of the reasons I moved in particular was the family feel. Walking to backdoor bakery in the mornings for coffee and seeing my neighbors and their kids and dogs. Walking by at night and saying hello and being welcomed by friendly faces of one of the brothers. The lively atmosphere of the outdoor cafe, people eating and milling about on the sidewalk. Those things are gone now. All because these greedy landlords want to up the rent and try to attract some posh business to come in, or open their own restaurants now that people with buckets of money live here. The other disheartening thing is that the backdoor space is still vacant. Nothing there. Is the landlord really making more money on an empty space? I don't think so. It makes me sad. It also makes me want to move. Thank god for tropical, the last bastion of neighborhood still in walking distance. I keep thinking it may be time to move to echo park, at least they still have chicken corner, but I'm afraid that it just may be too late there too.