Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Halfway down the block on your left is The ReBuilding Center, a cool
idea in a cool space: it's a nonprofit that gathers used building materials
(from demolitions, donations, and the like) that might otherwise have
been thrown out, then sells them as part of a sustainable-building effort.
Far from the cookie-cutter stuff you might find at an ordinary retail
store, the fixtures and frames and various odds and ends here are
unique enough that it's fun just to browse. There's an “idea library” for
those seeking inspiration. And the building itself embodies the prin-
ciples in which it trades: it's a funky hodgepodge of salvaged material
that somehow looks just right when put together.
At the corner of N. Beech St. and Mississippi Ave., on the right, is one of
the more appealing brewpubs in town, Amnesia Brewing. It's best in
warm weather, when you can sit on the patio with a pint and a brat-
wurst in a bun and watch the traffic go by.
Diagonally across the street from Amnesia Brewing is Bridge City Com-
ics, a fine, friendly, and completely unintimidating comic-book shop,
known for the well-attended author events and readings it hosts.
As you continue along N. Mississippi, note Sunlan Lighting on your left,
at N. Failing St. The shop itself is only mildly odd, but the commercials
it used to run on late-night TV were of such a particular degree of
bizarre that any local who has lived here long enough to have seen them
will know exactly what you're talking about when asked. (Incidentally,
it's a great place to find lightbulbs in unusual sizes, should you need
any.)
A few doors down is Mississippi Studios, a small live-music venue, and
its attached watering hole, called Bar Bar. The venue is intimate and
impeccably booked, with a sort of tiny-screening-room feel plus a bal-
cony, and the bar serves awesome burgers that start at just $5 (no kid-
ding). Alert walkers may also notice that the bar's outdoor patio makes
use of materials from The ReBuilding Center down the street. This is
definitely one of the best places to see a band (or just hang out and grab
a bite), but get there early, because it does fill up.
Farther along N. Mississippi is Paxton Gate, a store that is almost more
of a taxidermy museum. (The original location, in San Francisco, star-
ted out as a gardening store, but it took off in an unexpected direction
fairly soon.) It bills itself as a shop for “Treasures and Oddities,” a place
to find things for your personal wonder-cabinet: fossils, bones, teeth
