Community thrives among Olde North Charleston businesses, locals

It's no secret that Olde North Charleston, along East Montague and Park Circle, has undergone a rebirth of sorts in the past few years.

I've spent many days and evenings bouncing back and forth between restaurants including Sesame Burgers and Beer, The BBQ Joint and Madra Rua, and spent even later evenings at places such as The Mill or revisiting the bar at Madra Rua.

One of my favorite local pizza places is EVO on East Montague, whose "Pork Trifecta" is a meat lover's dream.

Yet, I recently noticed a new pizza joint, Park Pizza Co., that had opened up just down the street. Sampling Park's olive oil-based, mustard barbecue chicken and pork sausage "Carolina" pie, I must confess that I now have 2 new favorite pizzerias: and they're both in Olde North Charleston.

For movie lovers, there's the Olde Village Talking Picture House, which shows an eclectic mix of old favorites and cult classics along with locally produced films.

And the North Charleston Farmers Market held every Thursday at Park Circle has been a nice addition to the local community.

And "community" is the key word for the area.

Madra Rua and other local businesses often sponsor street parties. (They love throwing street parties so much it seems they'll celebrate just about anything.)

And repeat visits to any of the establishments that help define the area will inevitably introduce you to the many repeat customers who actually make up that community.

Unlike the national retail chains that dominate so much of the urban and suburban American landscape, Olde North Charleston is made up entirely of local businesses that are patronized by local folks.

In this day and age, that's quite refreshing. And both locals and visitors are able to enjoy everything this "new" area has to offer, precisely because Olde North Charleston embraces the old idea of community so well.