Two Cafes

Northside - Euclid and Hearst - appears to be in flux. The cafe above opened a few months ago, newly renovated. It holds the corner, a prime location in terms of foot traffic. Up the street on the same side, tucked into a single storefront, is a cafe that spills out into the street. That's probably not possible at the corner, but - as the photo below shows - it makes a difference. When La Farine opened on Solano, there was a big fuss about the sidewalk seating. I never understood why. It's one reason that cafes give life to a town or a city. (In terms of Northside's viability as a retail corridor, it seems totally wrong of the University to let Peet's to put a cafe on the ground floor of Dal Hall.)


Comments

  1. I really enjoy the Pete's in Dal Hall; the space is quite modern and relaxed during off hours. North Side gets a total overflow of people at lunch time anyway. There are three dedicated coffee shops in that North Side area now, and maybe ten places that sell coffee. I like the outdoor seating - they charge more to seat you outside at some European cafes - but it does interfere with foot traffic.

    That new cafe is sort of generic - at the same time, without being Pete's or Starbucks generic with a human face - the one with the outdoor seating is a "nice" cafe, and the one up the street 'normal'.

    They seem to be having a fuss about outdoor seating on center street below campus too, I overheard the owner of the pizza place there talking about it.

    P.S.
    Actually I strayed here to say that you look like the guy from A Clockwork Orange.
    thx

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's funny. No one's ever said that before! My concern about Peet's in that location is that it may keep people from venturing across Hearst. If it doesn't, then of course I'll withdraw my objection, but I think the jury is still out. I think it's in the university's interest to keep Northside alive as a retail corridor.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought Northside was more exciting when beer was the beverage of choice.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts