Mon-Sat 6 am-9 pm; Sun 7 am-9 pm.

It is common for people to call Seattle a very white city. In one respect this is true: When compared in racial terms to Tacoma, the most diverse city in the state of Washington, Seattle is certainly whiter. But in another respect it is not: When compared in cultural terms, Seattle is not whiter, because it is more cosmopolitan. By cosmopolitan, I mean a large part of Seattle's culture is defined by and connected to global culture in ways that Tacoma is not. This is why those who are in Seattle are closer to London than those who live in, say, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania--a city that, like Tacoma, is more racially diverse than Seattle.

Flo-Anna's Diner is a white restaurant. It's located just beyond the limits of Seattle, which comes to an end on 145th Street. The restaurant is white not only because it has mostly white patrons, but because the culture it represents is white. The oil-, potato-, beef-, and white-bread-heavy food on the menu would not surprise any white person in America. Indeed, if a white person from rural Florida happened to walk into Flo-Anna's, everything--the design, the service, the food--would make perfect sense to him or her. The same would not be true for the Gravity Bar and its wheat grass and juice cocktails, which, despite a predominantly white patronage, represents global culture.

The first time I walked into Flo-Anna's two or so years ago, to my surprise I was stared up and down by several old white people who were eating bacon and drinking coffee. It was not like they had never seen a black person before--that was not the kind of look they gave me. Instead, it was more like I was invading their space, their little world. I ate my breakfast quickly and left. The second time I went to Flo-Anna's, a few days ago, it was for a late lunch. Inside, four tables were loaded with large white people talking about white things, like the merits and problems of some domestic thingamabob. I ordered chicken-fried steak and eggs for $7.25, and my companion, who is also not white, ordered the turkey clubhouse for $7.75. When the waitress arrived with our food, I realized that the restaurant was completely empty. The white folks had gone. My friend and I were the only ones there, eating white food.