The CD in The Economist?!?!

If you asked me to list things I would never expect to read in The Economist, near the top would be ANYTHING about the commerce in the Seattle neighborhood I lived in a few years ago. You see, I rented an apartment in a very nice high-rise that was built in a 'transitioning' area (i.e. don't walk outside alone at night!) in the Central District (CD). Just a few blocks east took you to Madison Park, home of muti-million lake front homes AND Tom Skerritt, and a few blocks north took you into a neighborhood of McMansions. Walking west took you through Capital Hill and then downtown, extremely convenient for hoofing it to happy hours and concerts.

However directly across from my apartment were the holdouts of the old neighborhood. The renamed "Chocolate City" (now closed) which was both a store and bar, as well as the busiest crack corner in town. And across the street in another direction was De Charlene's Beauty Parlor. I could see De Charlene's from my 6th story balcony and I have to say that no hair salon I ever went to was open as late as this one. Or had limos waiting in the vacant lot next door at all hours of the night. Obviously De Charlene's advertisements for weaves was just a front for a prostitution ring.
So imagine my surprise when my husband found her quoted in THE ECONOMIST.

“My clientele has all moved away,” says Charlene Williams, owner of De Charlene’s Beauty & Boutique in Seattle’s Central District. Her neighbourhood was 79% black when she set up shop in 1968. It was 58% black as recently as 1990. Now it is 21% black. Ms Williams once had 13 hairdressers on her payroll; now she employs none. The young Ray Charles once performed in black-owned nightclubs in the Central District. Those clubs are gone, as are the restaurants where Ms Williams used to buy pork-chop sandwiches and peach pie. Eateries now offer crepes, wood-fired artisan bagels and north-west fusion cuisine.

I can't help but wonder if there isn't a need for hairdressers on the payroll if the business is a front for seedier occupations?