[Source: “The Beta on Downtown Phoenix,” A Change in the Wind blog] — While visiting Phoenix recently, learned a useful new phrase — “the beta.” Learned it from the proprietor at Conspire, a very cool coffeeshop-arthouse-neighborhood collective said to have the best coffee in town. Conspire was once an ordinary house, but has become a 21st-century hang-out. The Americano-style coffee is absolutely superb, perhaps the best I’ve ever had, and the chatter is spiky and upbeat.
I told the bright-eyed proprietor that his place was changing my opinion of Phoenix, which I imagined (based on the drive in to town) as “this monster city where everyone drove an Escalade.” A cruel over-generalization, obviously, but he took it in stride, admitted there was some truth to it, but said that his work/live neighborhood of galleries, restaurants, and such was different, and offered me “the beta” on where to go in what is known as the “Artisan Village.” [Note: To read the full blog entry, click here. If you don’t understand the title of this blog entry, click here.]
Downtown Voices Coalition 