Set in a historic cobblestoned building on 13th Street, just a few businesses away from Washington Avenue, is the small storefront that is the Thirteenth Street Bake Shop, Ltd. The store name is scripted on a white sign over a blue-green wall set into the cobblestone. A homemade wooden screen door screeches to greet you as you enter the initiate bakery.

The wall near the right side of the counter is hand-painted to look like a European café front, with a blue and white striped awning and chalkboard paint used so the drink menu can be handwritten right onto the wall with

colored chalk.

Up and to the left of the counter, a large blackboard is suspended from the ceiling with the bakery menu hand-scrawled in colored chalk as well. The bakery case itself features just a few items that were recently homemade. Two deep baking dishes contain massive cinnamon rolls, one pan with and one pan without raisins. Other trays held other items, including various flavors of muffins, breads, and Danishes.

I asked the middle-aged woman behind the