North 5th Street

North 5th Street is not your average road. At first glance, it looks like a normal row of houses, but after strolling down the sidewalk one will realize it is in fact, a lot more.

There are a combination of coffee shops, eateries, and small boutiques.

 

Jobot

Coffeeshop

Billie Speece has been working at Jobot for about a year now. She said she enjoys the atmosphere where Jobot is located.

“People complain about there being nothing to do in Phoenix, but sometimes they just aren’t leaving one spot,” she said.

Speece said the Jobot idea came from combining “cup of joe” and a coffee bot.

Jobot’s sells soley coffee and crepes- delicious coffee and crepes though.

The crepes range from dinner crepes to dessert crepes. Pictured at the right is a banana- nutella crepe.

Nacho-bot 

This clever play on words had us really impressed.

Nacho-bots sits right next to Jobot. So they are not-Jobots, and they serve nachos. Boy are they delicious too!

Pictured to the right are the buffalo chicken nachos. They are the perfect combination of spicy and cheesy.

Nacho-bot is open from Wednesday to Saturday, and on Friday and Saturday night is open 24 hours. Trust us, great choice of a late-night snack.

Lawn Gnome

Gifts, Bookstore, Local Art, Infoshop

Aaron Johnson has been publishing books since 2004, and opened Lawn Gnome about 8 months ago. He also works at Jobot right across the street.

He said the Lawn Gnome theme came from his favorite poem about gnomes doing everything in the night when no one was watching.

Johnson said he wanted to provide free entertainment for the community through his business.

“Nobody else wants to do free all-ages events cause there is not as much money in it,” he said. “But people need it, like its a huge thing for the community.”

Joy Young has been working at Lawn Gnome for a few months. She said all the employees of the store are volunteers, and they just enjoy running the store.

Lawn Gnome holds stand-up nights and poetry readings each week. Young said she first got involved doing the open mic events on a whim.

“I was across the street having a cup of coffee and this crazy guy in this mad-hatter hat and a cape came up to me,” she said. He asked Young to be a judge, so she went on over.

“I didn’t even know all this was over here,” she said.

MADE

Allison Elliott started working at MADE 3 years ago.

She said 50% of the store’s merchandise is made by local artists, and MADE’s best selling product is its jewelry.

Elliott said she has sold a few pieces of hers in the store before but she specializes in photography.

Downtown Boutiques- Vintage by Misty and Mercantile

I had no idea there are two boutiques that carry vintage products, until I stepped into them. They have affordable prices, too, which is important to a college student. Even one of the boutiques offer an ASU discount!

Vintage by Misty

The first boutique I explored was “Vintage by Misty,” located on Central Avenue.

This boutique is great because the owner has traveled all around the world to collect items to sell in her shop.

She said she didn’t want her store to be a “normal,” vintage boutique. She said she wanted everything in her store to be unique. The store even has a men’s section.

Misty said started her business at the age of 21. She originally had a boutique inside of another store in Scottsdale for a year and a half. She moved to downtown Phoenix about two years ago.

“I love it,” she said. “I wanted to bring a business to ASU students.”

She said she is working to grow her store’s online sales as well, and she would one day like to expand over seas.

Misty’s prices range from $25 up on dresses. She makes some of her jewelry, so it tends to be a little more expensive. With an ASU discount, it is quite affordable and totally worth it.

Mercantile

The second boutique called “Mercantile” is located right next to “Vintage by Misty.” This store is not only filled with clothes and shoes, but it also has a hair salon inside.

Store Manager Shauna Thibaulet did said it was her idea to put the little hair salon in the boutique.

It costs around $60 to get a hair cut and to get a color treatment it is around $70.

“It’s your usual standard hair fee you pay,” she said.

The store also does alterations on clothes that don’t fit perfectly on the first try. Customers can even buy them and come back to get them fixed.

The store is run in a friendly atmosphere, very calm and quite.

The fun part about shopping vintage is that you never knowing what you will walk out with. It’s exciting to find that an item dates back to the 1970s.

White Sage Espresso

There’s millions of places that can whip you up a quick and decent cup of joe, but how many can make you a delicious iced mocha plus a look into your future?

White Sage Espresso is a local Phoenix coffee shop on 17th Street and Thompson. You can see its coffee sign from the street, but the little known secret is that the coffee shop also provides psychic readings.

The owner, Wes, knew he was psychic from a young age and began giving readings in his adulthood. He used to give readings at different coffee shops around his town, but the owners of those shops eventually grew tiresome of Wes making more money than they were.

So, his solution was to open his own coffee shop. He doesn’t advertise too much for the psychic readings but to those who believe in his skill, there are clues throughout the cafe.

Take a look at our video above to unlock the secrets of this Phoenix coffee shop and get an inside look at how Wes does his readings.

“Mi Patio” Happy Hour in Downtown Phoenix

By Agent 5, Agnes Kozina

Today we got a chance to go to one of the “hidden” spots we’ve been dying to try since we drove past it. “Mi Patio” is a Mexican restaurant located in a plaza on North 7th Avenue in downtown Phoenix. We’d never heard of it, and we almost got lost on our way there. It is a pretty small restaurant with a very small bar, but attracted us because it seemed tropical and inviting.

We wanted to try Mi Patio’s “Happy Hour,” of course! I bought a strawberry margarita and since I brought Agent 1, Brynn Mende, she tried a peach margarita. Both were only $3. We also got the chance to get some of the food half off for their happy hour.

The restaurant’s Happy Hour prices were pretty reasonable and the food was really good. The margaritas hit the perfect sweetness level. When it comes to checking out the menu, the portions are pretty big. We couldn’t finish the food we bought. However, the portions make it worth the price you pay, we recommend maybe sharing something!

Mi Patio gave off a welcoming atmosphere, as Mexican music filled the background noise. We definitely felt like we were at least in Mexico! This place is definitely worth checking out, VAMANOS! (Go, leave, give it a try!)

LoLo’s Chicken and Waffles

Chicken and Waffles? Sounds like a strange combination right? – Well, only until you try it.

LoLo’s Chicken and Waffles, located off Central Avenue and 7th Street, is famous for its chicken and waffles, macaroni and cheese, and Koolaid.

The restaurant was recently remodeled to seat triple the number of people. It went from being able to seat 50 people to the 150 that it can seat now.

Owner Larry White Jr. said since the project was finished two months ago, his profits have over doubled.

White said he has been working on the project slowly but surely ever since he bought the place in 2004.

“You could say it was a pretty sweet investment,” he said.

He said he put about 1.4 million into the most recent remodeling.

 

White’s grandmother has owned Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe located off of Jefferson street since she opened it in 1964. White said he worked for her as he grew up.

“Since I’ve been able to walk and talk, I’ve been in the restaurant business,” he said.

White’s grandmother let him try out his chicken and waffles idea on the weekends at her restaurant to see if Phoenix would be a good market for the dish.

Eventually, he was ready to open his own business.

“You’re never gonna get rich working for someone else,” White said.

Slowly but surely, White built his business, as he grew and hired more employees. In 2009, he also opened a location in Scottsdale.

When he started the Scottsdale restaurant, he was completely broke and bought everything on credit. Now, he’s made it back and more.

“Just know that hard work pays off,” White added.