By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Even the newest yuppies to settle on Queen Anne Hill were surprised to learn that two new Indian restaurants will open up directly across the street from one another.

It is as if every new business on the hill is cloning itself. First came the coffee shops, then bagel stores, followed by Asian, Italian and tortilla-wrap restaurants, pubs, bakeries and day spas.

The Indian restaurants -- Raja and Banjara -- will share the block on Boston Street with restaurants serving Thai and Asian food. Around the corner is Pirosmani, noted for its recipes from the Soviet Republic of Georgia and the Mediterranean.

The winds of change blowing over the hill are threatening to scour away some of the quaint, historic character of the place, some residents say. It seems each new "destination" business marks the demise of an older establishment that was unable or unwilling to compete in a changing market.

"It's double everything now," complains Eric Hildebrandt, who works at Cafe Ladro, a 2-year-old coffee shop and bakery on Queen Anne Avenue North. "Queen Anne was rich and very white, and now it is even more so. There is a cultural blandness."

Somewhat ironically, Cafe Ladro took some of the retail space once occupied by S & M Market, a store run by the Turkish Mezistrano family that was on the hill since 1933.

Its closure in 1989 was followed recently by Salladay's Pharmacy -- a fixture since the 1920s -- and the closure of Queen Anne Pharmacy.

Today, it's as if Queen Anne residents awoke wearing a new pair of shoes -- stylish but one size too small. Residents are alternately fascinated, pleased, perplexed and plain worried about the future of their cherished neighborhood.

"Who asked for this stuff?" asks Mae Peck, an 11-year hilltop resident who works at a private school on Queen Anne. "It's much too much.

"It used to be this quaint little neighborhood where you could drive up and actually park your car and get things you needed, and you knew everyone. Now it's just so congested," Peck says.

When asked if she has considered moving, Peck, like so many Queen Anne residents, is resolute: "I still wouldn't live anywhere else. I love Queen Anne. This is a perfect place for my family."

Continued:

• The charm of the hill is hard to ignore
• Development boom has recast the future
• Queen Anne still has room for small shopkeepers
• Quality schools a neighborhood hallmark