This Just In: Outer Nabes Have Cafes, Too

If Jan Gehl were still in town, he'd be sipping a cappuccino and nodding while reading today's Chron. An absolutely penetrating look at how cafes give life to otherwise boring-ass neighborhoods reveals that there are coffee-serving establishments in such places as -- brace yourselves -- the Bayview, the Excelsior, and Visitacion Valley. And in places where there's a "perception of danger," street-level coffee joints don't just give people something to do, they "bring some eyes to the street." Fair enough. And for those who fear gentrification (the story mentions in passing that the threat is real), cafe owners say that they often find people of all sorts on their couches, whiling away their time as slowly as possible. Just watch where you put those Starbuckses, mmkay?
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