Spotlight
Bay St. Louis, Miss.
Mockingbird Café
by Chris Ryan

When Hurricane Katrina embarked on its path of destruction through the southern United States in August 2005, America’ s eyes turned toward New Orleans, a classic city that turned into a disaster zone when the levees broke. Though the country grieved for the Big Easy as news cameras transmitted detailed accounts of its suffering, many other cities felt the effects of the devastating storm.

One of these was Bay St. Louis, Miss., a coastal town considered by many to be at the eye of storm when Katrina hit. Located less than an hour from New Orleans, Bay St. Louis experienced a 32-foot-high storm surge that destroyed every structure up to one mile inland. Along with the houses and businesses ruined, the town lost its five coffeehouses in the storm. But as the community struggled to recuperate in the months following, a new coffeehouse would play a part in healing the damaged hearts of the city’ s residents.

History still standing

Before Katrina, Bay St. Louis was known as an enclave for artists—a small town of about 9,000 residents, of which many painted on canvas made jewelry and designed clothing. A fair number owned shops, and some used them as their residences as well.

A popular coffeehouse among residents was Da Beach House—a surf shop that served lattes, rented kayaks and surfing gear, and hosted luaus. One of the shop’ s customers was Jeff Hinson, a Bay St. Louis native who through his regular visits to the coffeehouse became acquainted with fellow customer Martin Chambers. Chambers, originally from Derry, Ireland, was in the home restoration business with his wife, Alicein, a Bay St. Louis native who also owned a local clock shop.

When the hurricane hit, it dramatically altered the makeup of the city. “ All the structures were gone, all the houses were gone," says Hinson. “It’ s kind of surreal to lose 10,000 homes overnight. I’ d definitely say Bay St. Louis was the hardest hit of any area on the whole coast.“ To the dismay of Hinson, the Chambers and other Bay St. Louis residents, Da Beach House was destroyed in the hurricane.

Months after the storm, Hinson and Martin Chambers were having a conversation when Chambers—who had also lost his home in the storm— told Hinson he was going to bring coffee back to Bay St. Louis, and the venue was going to be a 19th-century German cottage in the city's Old Town neighborhood. Located at one of the highest points in town, the historic building had survived the storm, gathering only a few inches of water, and the Chambers had arranged to purchase and renovate it. Hinson, who has a background in coffee including stints at coffeehouses while attending college at Tulane University, agreed to lend a hand. " His talent is transforming the space, and my talent is the coffee side," Hinson says. "We could have opened just a regular place in a generic location. But it was definitely about the feeling before the coffee, and it's one of the most unique spaces that I've been into."

The space, which would become known as the Mockingbird Café—includes wrap-around porches, large gallery-style rooms, bead-board ceilings and a barge-wood cypress coffee bar—not exactly your standard coffeehouse features, but common to Civil War-era buildings. In addition to renovations, Martin contributed a coffee contact he had made, Rick Milton of Northwest Coffee Roasting in St. Louis. Milton roasts the Mockingbird's beans, and he created a Bay St. Louis blend. "It was kind of cool, the fact that Rick is in St. Louis, and we're in Bay St. Louis," says Hinson.

A Healing Place

The Mockingbird Café opened in August 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina hit. Offering a full coffee menu, fresh-baked pastries and free wireless Internet, the café immediately connected with customers. And with the town still very much in disarray, it provided people with a meeting place. "It' s almost become an office space for the whole town," Hinson says. "People really lacked that central hub, which is integral to a community. This has become a gathering place."

Community gatherings at the Mockingbird are made up not only of Bay St. Louis residents, but also of volunteers and workers who are there to help the city rebuild. The new additions have helped repopulate a city that lost many of its residents in the aftermath of the storm; though no surveys have been released, Hinson says a good portion of people have left town, citing local high school enrollment, which shrunk from 1,100 students to around 475 after the storm. Many of those who have stayed in Bay St. Louis are living in trailers, meaning that a place like the Mockingbird—a spacious building where people can use the Internet, socialize and relax—goes a long way toward comforting residents. "People here go to work in a trailer, they go to class in a trailer and they live in a trailer," says Hinson. "By the time they get to our door, they're kind of beaten down and tired and weary, and they walk in and cheer up instantly."

Hinson says another half-dozen shops have opened in Bay St. Louis since the storm hit, and the city is on its way back to the vibrancy it once had. However, tourism to the area is a long way from what it was, and the city is relying on new visitors to carry it through the tough time. "New Orleans was kind of the market that we fed off of, but because it collapsed, we're having to supplement that with people coming from other locations," Hinson says, adding that the students, volunteers and workers that have come to Bay St. Louis to help have been charmed by the small town, so much so that some have decided to stay permanently. "I want to see the town come back," Hinson says. "I never really thought that a $4 latte would be integral to that, but it has been a real blessing for people who are living in a FEMA trailer to have a warm, intimate environment to go see their friends. It's become their second home, or in many cases, their primary home.

 

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