We met at the Station, a coffee house on 16th Ave. South in Beacon Hill. The small, unassuming shop feels like the epicenter of a neighborhood at a crossroads. We sat together around a small table by the door: the rapper Gabriel Teodros, 206 Zulu founder King Khazm, rapper and Cleveland High School teacher Chevas Gary and me. Our two-hour-long talk about Beacon Hill’s changing face gave me a glimpse of the neighborhood through the eyes of these artists, who’ve lived here most, if not all, their lives.

Beacon Hill is a diverse, working class neighborhood in South Seattle dotted with small shops and modest homes and boasting some epic views of the city and mountains. Like many parts of Seattle it has experienced a surge in development, population and income levels in the last 10 years. A 2013 piece in Seattle Met magazine noted that Beacon Hill now has more than 35,298 residents — up from the 26,881 reported in the 2010 U.S. Census — and about 78 percent are “nonwhite.”

Not surprisingly, the three artists and I were discussing, among other things, gentrification — the “G-word,” as Chev put it. Just sitting in the Station it was clear which patrons were used to the neighborhood and which ones were new. Veterans came in calmly, often shaking hands with Gabriel, exchanging a “how’s life” and walking up to the counter with a smile. Almost everyone had a nickname. Newcomers rushed straight to the counter, exchanged a quick “fine, how are you?” before taking their coffee to go.

Luis and Leona Rodriguez own the Station, which has been in the neighborhood for about five years now. They have employed many neighborhood folks, Gabriel explains, many of them musicians — from producer WD4D to rapper (and Bitter Barista) Spekulation. The coffee shop sits on top of the Hill and right between two very important plots of land in the neighborhood. Look through one window and you see the El Centro de la Raza building; look through another window and you see a great deal of construction, which will eventually yield a planned mixed-use theater, store front and low-income apartment building called Plaza Roberto Maestas.