Anna's Asian House Restaurant Back Apartment

Among the vibrant features that small towns usually already have in place is the classic arrangement of "living above the store". When residential uses and commercial buildings blend and integrate, people mix easily into the pulse of activity that makes a town feel alive. When that happens orgaincally, that is to say, one building at a time, then the textures of the various generations get woven into a distinctive whole. When you see the upper Main Street commercial district, you see a place where old and new lives, and multiple ways of seeing the world, come together to create a unique street history that can only be where it uniquely is: Willits.

Circulating about town without the armor and anonymity of a car means seeing and connecting with people, not just acting out the pre-scripted advertising idea of ourselves with our "stuff" gathered from distantly programmed shopping experiences. Having said that, the irony is not lost on me that the lane running along the bottom of this picture is for the Bank of Willits drive-through teller.