Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Jesse Windom

by Jim Hendersen

Over the past eight years, Jesse Windom has taken five rundown, former slumlord properties and turned them into livable, comfortable shelters for the homeless, mentally handicapped and onetime criminal offenders. He could now be called, respectfully and legitimately, a “shelterlord.”

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Dot Conant

by Mary Wood Ohiku / photo by Peter Di Antoni

“My daughter Linda gave me that nickname,” Conant said with a heart-warming smile. Linda owns Closet Classics, a cafe and clothing store at 1000 E. North Ave.

Conant, who has been knitting as long as she can remember, furnishes the clothing store with her original hats and scarves. Her creations are home-knit in bright colors and original patterns, attracting customers from all over the neighborhood.

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Instant Family Addition

by Peter Schmidtke / photo by Peter Di Antoni

Sometimes, life can be hard to figure out. Former Riverwest residents Melissa and Matthew Karpowicz were confronted with that reality last year when Melissa’s aunt and uncle, Constance and Gary Kadlee, passed away less than two months apart, leaving behind three school-aged children.

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Clinton Clay

by Sonya Jongsma Knauss / photo by Peter Di Antoni

Clinton Clay was born in Mississippi and raised in the streets. He has bounced around from town to town, but somehow, after all these years, he ended up in Riverwest. It feels like home. The 76-year-old Clay puffs on cigarettes as he talks from his “office” at a table in Onopa. “The most beautiful women in the world are here!” he says of Riverwest, looking out the big windows. It’s a topic he likes to come back to. “And they all are friendly!” he says.