After almost 45 years, Raul's Candy Store has placed "going out of business" signs in their front windows and announced they'll be closing their doors for good at the end of the month. Hearing this news yesterday, I hurried over to see for myself what had become of this local institution, having not been inside in easily over five years. When I arrived, standing under the scaffolding which now covers a good section of the block on B, a small group of men were gathered in front talking amongst each other, and a few feet away an older woman greeted a couple in spanish who were selling clothing and other items hung from the chain-link fence. Pushing open the smooth weathered door of Raul's, I almost knocked into the reporter who had clearly been standing inside for some time, his large video camera set up on a tripod in the middle of the room as he tried unsuccessfully to communicate with Raul and another man who sat comfortably in a set of chairs by the...
This is an ongoing documentary project on the neighborhood I was born and raised in, with a particular focus on its current re-development and so-called "revitalization".