Nowhere is this change more obvious than along Ballard Avenue in Old Ballard. This row of historically preserved turn-of-the-century buildings used to be almost nothing BUT "corner bars," with a few auto repair shops and musty hardware stores thrown in — though the latter are slowly being replaced by architect offices (why the proliferation of "storefront" architects all of a sudden?) and specialty shops that cater to the neighborhood's more affluent and particular new residents.

The bars are still there, however, since even the affluent and particular like to get drunk too. Many of these old taverns still have the same names that they've operated under for decades as well, though aside from the one or two dives that STILL ARE dives there's something very different about some of these old haunts, which has as much to do with the people who now OWN them as it does with the area's changing demographics.