Storyville's Untold Story

There's increasing skepticism about the story behind Storyville coffee, the new challenger to Starbucks in the Pike Place Market.

Thanks to the Reddit bulletin board, we now know that there's a lot more to the Storyville story than the owners and managers let on. As the original post (and even more, the subsequent comments) make clear, Storyville is owned by folks with a right-wing agenda (ultra-conservative, anti-gay politics) that overshadow the already quite conservative religious philosophy of the Mars Hill Church.

Evening Magazine ran a piece about Storyville last night, in which the claim was that Storyville meant "everyone has a story to tell." They ignored the New Orleans history of Storyville: it was the city's red light district.

Now, now, you say: to each his own. Yes, in theology as in coffee. That doesn't mean I have to patronize the shop, however. But let's not be fooled by Storyville's sleek design, smooth coffee and tasty pastries. Seattle's no place for bigots.

Over at The Stranger, managing editor Bethany Jean Clement has a similarly skeptical piece.