110520_GYS

86  GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS  |  2020 – 2021 By CAROL SIMMONS Downtown Yellow Springs is where many people go to shop, bank, mail a package, eat, drink, worship, hear music, see art, meet up with friends and, of course, work. For a small percentage of locals, downtown is also home. As many as 65–70 people live in the Central Business District, or CBD, estimates Raven Behrens, a Village administrative assistant who lives with her boyfriend in an apartment off Kieth’s Alley, which runs parallel to Xenia Avenue. Behrens’ calculation is “just a ballpark figure” based on an aerial map of the area and figuring an average 1.5-person occupancy. Exact numbers aren’t available. While some downtown- ers live in houses on the edges of the CBD, most occupy apartments accessed through often unnoticed street-fronting doors, incon - spicuous side walkways or innocuous back staircases. Convenience — easy access to all that the down- town area has to offer — is the most cited reason for living at the heart of the vil- lage. Affordability is another factor. And some residents like the vibe of being at the center of activity. “It’s definitely a good peo - ple-watching location,” Alex - andra Scott, interim direc - tor of the YS Chamber of Commerce, said recently of her second-floor apartment above the Lucky Dragon restaurant on Dayton Street. Her view looks out over the courtyard of 100 Corry St. — the long-ago auto dealership now turned collection of shops — and down Corry Street to the traffic light at Xenia Avenue. And despite her proximity to the Chinese restaurant, kitchen aromas don’t reach her, she said. What does reach her are conversations on the sidewalk below her windows. When patrons sit at the restaurant’s outdoor wooden tables, “I hear every word,” she said. She said it doesn’t bother her, but she notes it might bother folks who don’t know their conversations aren’t necessarily private. Scott, who is also a poet and writer, originally came to Yellow Springs from Colum- bus to attend Antioch Col - lege, and she was living at Twin Coach apartments five years ago when a friend told her about an available space downtown. “I didn’t have a car back then,” she said. The move put her in easy walking dis- tance to the Chamber office. It also gives quick access to others. An evening out with friends can smoothly transi- tion to her place, she said. “It’s easy to find me,” she said. And she’s made new friends through the serendip- ity of downtown interactions. Scott acknowledges that her location, which is just a few doors from the late-oper- ating Gulch Saloon on one side and the Spirited Goat coffee shop on the other, wouldn’t suit everyone. “Luckily, I’m a night owl,” she said, and she likes the creative energy that sur - rounds her. Writer Bomani Moyenda said he also finds creative inspiration living downtown. Moyenda, who grew up in Yellow Springs and is a 1972 YSHS graduate, also works as a case manager for St. Vincent DePaul homeless services in Dayton. A writer of poetry, short stories, plays and an incomplete novel or two, Moyenda also has a column in Yellow Springs News. He’s lived in one of several apartments above the hardware store, on the corner of Xenia Avenue and Short Street, for a little over a year since moving back to town after a brief stint in Springfield. “I like the feel of it down- town,” Moyenda said. “Where I’m located, I look out over Xenia Avenue,” he said. “There’s something about that space. I feel kind of centered and grounded looking out while I write, especially when I’m working on my column for the News.” He also is inspired by people he sees walking by. “There are all kinds of creative people going by down on the street,” he said, including other writers, actors, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. “Some - times I sit down there out front of the grocery store on a bench. People I know will stop and chat. I tap into the great juice that Yellow Springs has to offer.” Living alone, he said his spirit benefits from the inter - actions he can have right outside his door. At least he did before the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the virus has put a damper on his downtown activities and the weekend nightlife he used to enjoy. Still, Moyenda likes the con - venience of downtown living. “Everything, like the grocery store, is right there,” he said. Like Moyenda, Dylan Sage, a musician and artist who has lived downtown for about three years, is often When downtown is home PHOTOS: CAROL SIMMONS At top, Alex Scott in front of the stairs to her second-story apartment on Datyon Street; below, Dylan Sage near Sunise Cafe, where he works. The downtown dwellers say they like the convenience and affordability of the area.