By TERESA TALERICO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Sarah McCaghren lives in a cozy, $450-a-month apartment in West Seattle Junction. From her back porch, she has a "peekaboo" view of Puget Sound.

Her cat wears an herbal flea collar from Next to Nature, a neighborhood "natural" pet supply store. She buys birthday gifts at nearby Northwest Art and Frame. When she repainted her basement, McCaghren picked up supplies at the Junction True Value Hardware -- a local hangout.

McCaghren, a litigation specialist, rarely needs to leave the Junction -- except for her job in Bellevue. She rarely wants to, either.

"Once you live here, it's kind of addictive," said McCaghren, 35. "It's really like a small town. I can leave my window open for the cat and I don't worry about anyone crawling in. And you're just a 10-minute bus ride from downtown Seattle."

Small-town charm. Mom-and-pop businesses. Cheap rents. Gorgeous views.

The Junction, which includes West Seattle's historic business district on California Avenue, prides itself on resisting the "supermall" feel that can rob a community of its charm. Petco and Safeway are two of the few chain stores.

"We wanted to keep a sense of the small town," said Bill Hibler, president of the West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Association. "Some people think to be successful, you have to have that bustle. There are a few people that think we need an Eddie Bauer or a Gap. I don't believe that."

Visitors may feel like they've stepped back in time. The Junction True Value sells greeting cards and two-for-$1 bags of Sather's candies. Husky Deli, opened in 1933, still makes Swiss chocolate-orange ice cream.

Old-timers talk politics at Be's Restaurant, a smoky diner. In the Pegasus Books window, a bright pink poster hangs with a folksy, hand-scrawled message: "Hi! Sarah's gone, which means I'm here all by myself."

The neighborhood also features all but one of the 11 murals of West Seattle, splashes of color that brighten buildings and give pedestrians a community history lesson.

They include depictions of the Junction streetcar lines in 1918, a horse-drawn fire rig, and press day at the West Seattle Herald.

"It's kind of got the old 'Andy Griffith' vibe to it, kind of a Mayberry type of thing," said Matt Vaughan, 30, owner of Easy Street CDs and Tapes.

But that same old-time charm also concerns residents as they have watched landmarks such as J.C. Penney and Meredith's dime store shut down.

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• Community has always been at a crossroads