The fabulous
I went to the noon mass today, took a leisurely hour or two to grab some coffee, read the paper, and window-shop, and then I headed home. I walked the last few blocks slowly, enjoying the 80-degree weather and all the Easter finery on display. There's always a fair amount of dressing up for church here in Historically Black Neighborhood, but of course nothing compares to Easter: oversized hats on the women, panamas and fedoras on the men, suits on churchgoers of both sexes, girls in frilly dresses, and whole families strolling up and down and greeting their neighbors.

Amidst all this display some people still manage to stand out--the woman in the stunning fushia skirt suit; the man in pinstripes carrying a polished walking stick--but one sight almost stopped me dead. Accompanied by their more conventionally dressed family members were two teenaged boys: one in a fire-engine-red four-button suit and matching fedora, the other in a shiny gold checkerboard-pattern suit and two-tone shoes.

Big Easter pimpin'!

The flabbergasting
Ever since I moved here three years ago, a freshly renovated building on my corner has appeared just on the verge of opening. It's an unusually-shaped building, and I've long wondered who had bought it and what it was going to become. But although workmen occasionally came and went and a few of the upstairs windows indicated the presence of a handful of apartments and new residents, no one seemed in a real hurry to install a retail tenant in the handsome street-level space. In the last two months, though, there's been more activity--lighting fixtures going up, a deli case being carted in--and today I finally saw a sign out front. Aha! I thought. At last! So I walked over to take a look.

And whaddaya think it is? Why, a caviar and champagne bar and catering service! Yes, in the heart of HBN. I mean, I get ghetto-fabulous, people, and I like my champagne as much as the next lush--but there are only a few real restaurants and one decent grocery store for blocks. Maybe you could go for something that's both upscale AND a little more useful?