Carol Anderson of Vaguely Reminiscent

The items you’ll find inside Carol Anderson’s shop on Ninth Street are as unique as the name of the shop itself, a reference to a song by singer songwriter Charlie King. Like many activists in the 1970’s, King was tired of political demonstrations and marches being delegitimized in the media as “vaguely reminiscent of the 60’s,” as if the 1970’s didn’t have real problems of its own that needed to be addressed. So, he wrote a song – “Vaguely Reminiscent of the 60’s” – to voice his resistance. As it turns out, Vaguely Reminiscent has much in common with its namesake song.

Though the song is written about a serious topic, it’s actually quite funny. Anyone who has ever walked into Vaguely Reminiscent will tell you the same – this is a store with a sense of humor. Along with beautiful shoes, eclectic jewelry, and unique clothing, you’ll find packs of stick-on mustaches for the days of the week, baby onesies that read, “silently judging you,” and irreverent greeting cards that will make you laugh out loud.

Like its namesake song, the store also has a political history. In 1986, it served as a staging ground for the anti-recall effort of then mayor Wib Gulley’s anti-discrimination policy. Just last month, Anderson was traveling in New York when a rumored KKK rally led thousands to march in resistance in downtown Durham. She called Durham and told her employees to close the shop if they wanted to attend the protest. If they decided to go, she told them, it’d be paid time.

Both this song from the 1970’s and Anderson’s shop, which opened on Ninth Street in 1982, are throwbacks to another time. When Vaguely Reminiscent opened, Erwin Mill was still in operation and the iconic McDonald’s Drug Store and soda fountain was still in business. Steadfastly remaining in its cozy spot in the middle of Ninth Street’s busiest block, Vaguely Reminiscent is one of this neighborhood’s links to the past.

Finally, King’s song references dozens of political issues and demonstrations, making it the kind of song that people in the audience nod their heads to in appreciation and recognition. Vaguely Reminiscent is also this kind of crowd pleaser. Echoing the Ninth Street motto “something for everyone,” there are truly a staggering amount of distinctive items packed into this tiny space. Among them: hand dyed, block-printed skirts made by Jude Steuker in Asheville; Jafa shoes from Israel; and screenprinted canvas bags that read simply, “Durham I love you.”  

The 1960’s didn’t just disappear in 1970. They went on to influence the next decade and every generation after. Vaguely Reminiscent, which has certainly influenced Durham, isn’t going to die out either. When Anderson retires (at some point down the road!), she’ll be selling the shop to long time store manager Karen Merowcheck who plans to continue the Vaguely tradition on Ninth. That’s great news for Durhamites.

Without Carol’s seven employees, including Karen, the shop simply couldn’t be what it is today. Now that Carol has dependable folks to make things run smoothly while she’s away, she has more free time than she used to. So, when she’s not at Vaguely Reminiscent helping customers find exactly the right thing, Carol might be:

Planting trees with Durham Tree Advocates or volunteering with People’s Alliance.

Reading Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime (this is the book she’s currently reading, and one she highly recommends).

Enjoying a meal at her favorite lunch spot, Toast, or taking in the summer concert series at Durham Central Park.

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Merchant profiles are written by Kate Van Dis of Kate Van Dis Creative Content

Cammie Brantley of Elmo's Diner

The iconic Elmo the duck – a coloring page that has been scribbled on by many Durham children – is emblematic of this local diner and its community spirit. Kids love coming here. Your kids will tell you this themselves, but if you don’t believe them, there’s proof: Elmo’s has won the Indy Award for Best Kid Friendly restaurant in Durham for several years in a row.

Cammie Brantley and Amy Testa, at Elmo's 

In fact, co-owner Cammie Brantley was a fifth grade teacher before she came on board full time at Elmo’s, and she always knew she wanted the restaurant to be a place that was linked in with the Durham community. Wayne Hodges, Brantley’s husband and Elmo’s co-owner, feels the same way, as does Amy Testa, a long time Elmo’s manager who became an owner in 2014.  Many years ago, the trio decided to nix their marketing budget and replace it with their First Tuesday Program. Each first Tuesday of the month, a Durham school PTA gets 10% of total sales. Brantley and her crew love being in a position to make an impact on Durham schools. And they also love what they do, a fact that is evident every time you walk into Elmo’s. The place feels warm, inviting, and homey – a feeling that can only be created when people feel, well … at home.

Part of the homey feel of Elmo’s can be attributed to its name, which people often ask about.  While brainstorming names for the new restaurant, Cammie happened to watch a movie with a sympathetic main character by the name of Elmo. He was a bit of an underdog. “But he was a character you wanted to root for,” Brantley says. The name also seemed “friendly and unpretentious” – two qualities they wanted to emphasize for the diner.

Some local Durhamites might remember that Ninth Street in 1997, when Elmo’s opened, was a very different place than it is today. For one thing, the Elmo’s building itself has had many lives – first as a taxi cab company in the 1930’s, then as a beauty college, and then as Ninth Street Bakery (which has since moved downtown).  Cammie remembers hanging out on the building’s front porch in the months before Elmo’s opened and the inside was under construction. “It was so quiet back then,” Cammie remembers. But Elmo’s, along with Barnes Supply Co., The Regulator, and a few other fixtures on Durham’s Ninth Street, have been steadfast in their dedication to this district, bringing in business and helping the street to become the thriving dining and shopping area it is today. Running a diner is a lot of work, but Brantley and the Elmo’s crew love watching the children grow up as they come in for pancakes and waffles year after year.

And it’s not just kids who feel comfortable in the booths, soda counter stools, and vintage-style tables at Elmo’s. One regular customer, Mr. Horace Dunn, visits the restaurant almost daily. When his brother died last year, he received a bouquet of flowers from “the Elmo’s family.” “And that’s what this is,” he says gesturing to the busy dining floor and full booths, “Elmo’s is a family.”

Here’s what Cammie is up to when she’s not busy at Elmo’s:

Kids’ Sports: Amy runs the Elmo’s show on weekends so that Cammie and Wayne can keep up with their ten-year-old son Matthew’s busy sports schedule, which includes soccer and basketball.

Books: The whole family loves to read. Matthew is particularly fond of historical graphic novels and Big Nate.

Cycling: Cammie and Wayne love recreational cycling. You might see them riding around the Durham/Chapel Hill area. Share the road!

Danielle Martini-Rios of Blue Corn Cafe

Danielle Martini-Rios and her husband Antonio Rios throw the kind of dinner party you want to be invited to. In one evening, this pair will whip up as many as 150 empanadas, and they’ll invite all of their friends to sample the fare. It’s no wonder they have thrived through twenty years of the restaurant business and nearly twenty years of marriage. Danielle and Antonio love food and all the accompanying festivity. These days, they love making their restaurant a family affair with sons Matteo and Sebastian, both of whom help out in the restaurant.

Danielle split her childhood between Italy and New Jersey and Antonio grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico, where he attended culinary school. Though Danielle started out pre-med, she was deeply influenced by her hard-working immigrant father, who traveled every day from New Jersey to Manhattan to run his own small business. With Antonio’s culinary passion and Danielle’s entrepreneurial spirit, they opened Blue Corn Café in June of 1997. Danielle must have had as much confidence in the relationship as she did in their business endeavor, because she told Antonio that if they could survive a full year of running a restaurant, she’d marry him. They wed in May of 1998. As it turns out, the restaurant business is a good litmus test for marriage, and Danielle and Antonio both have the work ethic and the energy to make what they do a joy instead of a chore.

Authentic may be an overused word in the restaurant industry, but there’s really no better way to describe the Blue Corn menu. They make all of their corn tortillas, salsas, and sauces (including the enchilada sauce) in-house. Their mission has always been to create quality Latin food with locally sourced ingredients. In fact, Blue Corn has been a pioneer in Durham’s farm-to-table movement, locally sourcing their pork and sweet potatoes as early as 1997. In the beginning, it was tough to source their entire menu locally. But the Blue Corn menu has evolved with the North Carolina food and farm scene. Today, Blue Corn demonstrates a tremendous commitment to the local, sustainable food culture. All their tap beers are local (not an option in 1997!), and their shrimp is domestic and chemical-free. Their feta and goat cheese come from Hillsborough Cheese Company, their produce from local organic food distributors such as First Hand Foods, Ward’s Produce, and Eastern Carolina Organics. They still stop at local farm stands to get the seasonal produce that influences their menu (Funny Girl Farm is a favorite!). The result of all this local foraging is amazing specials like octopus tacos or North Carolina watermelon-infused lemonade. Blue Corn has found other ways to commit to sustainability, as well. They donate their deep fryer oil for bio diesel and send 900 – 1000 pounds of compost per month to local farms!

In the same way that Blue Corn has a symbiotic relationship with its food suppliers, they also have a deep partnership with the Ninth Street community. As Danielle puts it, the Ninth Street businesses “rely on each other.” The whole vibe of Blue Corn Cafe – one that puts diners at ease and says, “Come on in and eat with family!” – is a product of the Ninth Street energy, which is open, welcoming, and all about community. 

In the twenty years since Blue Corn opened its doors, Danielle and Antonio have seen quite a bit of change. They’ve doubled the number of people they employ. They have expanded, adding a bar in the next-door space that used to be Books on Ninth. And the menu evolves regularly. But Danielle and Antonio’s love for their work is more like one of their menu’s staples – the black bean and sweet potato stew, for example, or the Roma tomato and eggplant quesadilla. Some things are just too good to change. 

Here’s what Danielle, Antonio, and the boys are up to when they’re not busy at Blue Corn:

Music: Antonio and Danielle love Pink Floyd, The Doobie Brothers, and Steve Miller Band. The family has also been known to rock out to a little Guns n’ Roses.

Down Time: The Martini-Rios’ love to garden and take long bike rides on the American Tobacco Trail. They also like to chill at home – the boys especially love pizza and movie night.

Travel: This family always makes time to travel. They still have family in Italy and Mexico, and Matteo and Danielle are going to Ireland together this month.

Sidney Cruze of Zola Craft Gallery

Can a love for trees be the guiding force behind a new career path as a gallery owner? For Sidney Cruze, that may just be the case. Before purchasing Zola Craft Gallery in August of 2014, Sidney worked as a freelance writer researching environmental topics. Among her favorite topics to research? Beech trees. Many of the books she reads in her free time are about trees as well – The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees, to name a couple. And during a tour of her gallery – which carries work from more than 55 North Carolina artists – she just might gravitate towards something like the gorgeous tree tiles from Po Co Paper. Sidney smiles as she picks up her favorite of the tiles and tilts it towards the light. The tiles – made from 100% post consumer fiber and framed in rough-cut lumber – are portraits of living trees – real trees the makers see in their everyday lives. This kind of eco-conscious, earthy vibe is a common theme in the gorgeous art displayed throughout the Zola Gallery, all of which is curated by Sidney herself.

Of course, it isn’t just a love of trees that led Sidney to her work as gallery owner and curator. She also loves art and the process by which it is created. As someone who studied ceramics herself at Claymakers in Durham, she understands and appreciates the process of making pottery. Sidney knows that even a simple piece can be challenging to make well.  There are many aspects of the artistic process that you can’t see in the final product, though the evidence of fine craftsmanship is there in the details. Knowing the artistic process helps people to understand and appreciate those details even more.  In the same way that she once did research for her freelance writing gigs, Sidney loves researching this artistic process. She shows off a vase made by potter Liz Paley and describes how Paley created it using a pottery wheel, a pastry crimper, and a heat gun.  Sidney also shares that the earrings she is wearing – gorgeous pearl-like stones in a simple cascade effect – are actually cast metal. Sarah Richardson, the California artist who makes them, heats up the metal to get the effervescent, shimmery finish that is reminiscent of pearls or oyster shells. 

So, the real reason Sidney rarely takes a day off isn’t because she can’t, but because she doesn’t want to. The stories she hears from makers and her connections with the Durham community are what make her job so rewarding. Even when she is traveling for leisure – say to Asheville or Virginia – she is checking out new galleries and craft shows and meeting makers. She is always on the lookout for that perfect piece that will fit right in to the shop. What does she look for? Textures, for one thing – silky wood or hammered metal. Excellent craftsmanship, for another – evidence that the piece is well made and thoughtfully constructed. Sidney also loves to buy art that is functional – things you can use in your home every day, like cutting boards, serving dishes, vases, and jewelry. On top of all that, Sidney asks herself a few questions when choosing what to keep in the shop: Is it beautiful? Will her customers fall in love with it? Does it tell a story?

Stop in to Zola and Sidney will likely be there with a story to tell about one of the beautiful items she has selected for the gallery. And because she loves making connections with customers, she may also want to strike up a conversation about a few of her other favorite things:   

 Favorite Travel Destination: Sidney and her family make an annual trek to the Virginia Creeper Trail where they spend the weekend biking and camping.

Favorite Music: Like her Ninth Street pals Emily Wexler and Deb Nickell at Cozy, Sidney is a big fan of Eva Cassidy. She also loves Tift Merritt, Van Morrison, Mandolin Orange, and Dire Straits.

Favorite Stress-Reliever: Swimming. If she’s not at the gallery or seeking out new art to display there, you might find Sidney swimming laps at one of Durham’s local pools.

Deb Nickell and Emily Wexler of Cozy

Cozy is nestled comfortably on the corner of Ninth and Markham in what was once a gas station and then a disreputable pool hall. Lise Ebel, Cozy employee and clothing manager, is responsible for its first major renovation into a retail space. Lise’s store (which she opened with Ann Alexander) was called FiberSpace, Durham’s first yarn and bead shop. In September of 2001, after FiberSpace closed, Deb Nickell created Cozy. Her longtime friend, Emily Wexler, became the store manager and then, in 2012, an official co-owner.

Though the geography of Cozy has changed over the years, the focus has stayed primarily on women’s clothing, shoes (oh, the shoes!), jewelry, and accessories with a niche market in high-quality, specialty yarns. This is essentially a neighborhood department store stocked with creative, inspired, and well-made goods produced by local makers and reputable national brands (Dansko, Hobo Bags, and Carol Turner Collection, to name a few).

And yet, if you spend any time shopping at Cozy, you’ll find that it’s also a community gathering space.  On the March 8th A Day Without a Woman, Emily and Deb did open the shop. But it wasn’t business as usual. They offered baked goods, a comfortable space for women to come in and chat, and even hosted a representative from Planned Parenthood; a portion of the proceeds from that day went to Planned Parenthood and North Carolina Central University. They’ve also raised funds for Pennies for Change, Dress for Success, and Crayons2Calculators. Local residents also gather at Cozy to learn – they offer knit and crochet classes for experience levels ranging from “I’ve never touched yarn!” to “I’m making my first sweater.” Past classes have taught participants to make fingerless mitts, ear warmers, and Flax pattern sweaters.

The all-women crew at Cozy has been together for many years, and they charmingly call themselves the Cozettes. At heart, the Cozettes are artists, and this artistry shines through every aspect of the shop. Knitting creations and the artistic work of local makers line the walls. One of those items on display is a scrumble shawl by yarn manager Lisa Doherty, whose patterns have been published in national knitting magazines. And on the first Tuesday and first Thursday of each month, Cozy hosts an open knitting circle (dubbed “Knit Night”) where locals share their work and learn from others.

Though Deb and Emily are business partners, their partnership extends well beyond the walls of Cozy. They have a lot in common, including their love of shoes and their dislike of having their photos taken. Here are a few other favorites they share:  

Favorite Books: Emily and Deb each have a favorite classic they love to reread every year. Emily’s is Little Women – the copy she got at a Scholastic Book Fair in the fourth grade. Deb’s is an autographed first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Favorite Music: Female singer songwriters like Eve Cassidy and Bonnie Raitt (with some crooners like Lyle Lovett and Frank Sinatra in the mix).

Three Things They Can’t Work Without: Music, good light, and mechanical pencils for the handwritten tickets they still create for every purchase (like we said, these folks are artists!).

Daryn O'Shea of Computer Cellar

Remember floppy disks and CD-ROMs? Or the colorful Apple desktop monitors that looked like space aliens? If you want a trip down computer technology’s memory lane, check out the museum wall at Computer Cellar, owned by Durham local Daryn O’Shea. The display of fantastically outdated computers and computer accessories will remind you how far we’ve come in the world of computing, and also how great it is to have local experts who can help you stay ahead of the technology curve (or at least keep up with it).

The Crew at the Computer Cellar

In 2010, O’Shea opened the Computer Cellar on Ninth Street in the basement of the Couch Building. Its current location is in the basement of the Regulator Bookshop. Though he started his career in the Navy and then moved to IT management and Mechanical Engineering, O’Shea found his niche in the computer world through Computer Cellar. Personal computer repairs and small business IT support allow him to both problem-solve – satisfying his engineer’s brain – and work closely with clients in the community.

Computer Cellar certainly feels like a community-focused store. The team members are professional and highly competent, but they don’t let that keep them from being friendly and welcoming to first-time walk-ins or long-time clients. They’re also not afraid to have a sense of humor, as evidenced by their infamous “Book of Shame,” a running log of tragic computer accidents. The most extreme entry? A computer that survived a car accident but came out of it wrapped up like a burrito. O’Shea and his team are happy to report that they were able to recover most of the data from that laptop! Most Computer Cellar clients need repairs that are much less dramatic, but still, dealing with software malfunctions or spinning wheels of death can be anxiety producing for anyone who’s not an IT expert. That’s why a big part of O’Shea’s role in computer repair – beyond working through computer and internet-related issues – is helping people stay calm.  Good thing his crew is made up of friendly folks who really dig computers and are pretty good at staying calm themselves.

A few more things about Daryn O'Shea:

O’Shea’s advice for laptop owners?  Keep your workspace beverage-free! The most common accident he sees is liquid spilled on computers.

If O’Shea is on a computer outside of work, he’s probably watching Netflix (just like the rest of us).

If he’s not on a computer, he’s likely hiking the Eno with his family or singing with Vox Virorum Men’s Choir.

Three things O’Shea can’t work without? Coffee, an internet connection, and his crew.

Jean Lorenzo of Bernard's Formal Wear

Though Jean Lorenzo has owned Bernard’s Formal Wear since 1971, her attire and her personality are really more classy than formal. She wears a patterned blue scarf around her neck and her cheerful red sweater matches one of the tuxedo vests on display in the shop. From first impression, Jean is clearly a class act.

Born and raised in Durham, Lorenzo first opened her tuxedo shop on the corner of Club and Buchanan Boulevards, near Northgate Mall. In 1980, the shop moved to it’s first location on Ninth Street (now Wavelengths Salon), making her one of the longest standing businesses in the district. In 1985, Bernard’s moved to its current location where a heart-shaped display of colorful ties beams out onto the sidewalk from the window. The inside of Bernard’s is elegant but cozy, with gleaming wood floors and mirrors for grooms and prom-goers trying on vests and tuxedos. Though Bernard’s carries formal wear exclusively for men, Lorezno loves working with the brides and prom dates (who, let’s face it, are making most of the decisions anyway!).

Lorenzo has tried to retire twice, but so far hasn’t been able to follow through.  Though she loves her home in northern Durham, she just can’t stay away from her Ninth Street shop. “This is my favorite place to be,” she says. Her employees – several of whom have been with her more than thirty years – feel the same.

A few of Lorenzo’s favorites:

Favorite singer: Celine Dion

Favorite travel destination: The Southwest (Last year she visited San Antonio; this year she’s headed for New Mexico!) 

A few things that mean the world to her: Friends, family, and coffee.