Roman Coffee Shops
What is a coffee shop at its core?
- Is it a place to get good drinks? Yes.
- Is it a place to read, study, or work? Yes. (…and you’re getting closer to the mark here…)
- Is it a place to socialize? Yes.
Its no surprise that when AXE classified KC as THE worst city in America for singles, coffee shops were one of their measurements (among many):
“Cities that are home to the least number of coffee shops per capita leave few good places for young people to converge and trade stories after a fun night out”
I suspect they only counted coffee shops that were open past 7 PM, of which there are just a few in KC. What this gets at is a very important point: Coffee shops are this generation’s place to meet up, hang out, discuss issues, etc. When I was fortunate enough to visit Rome in early ‘07, the tour guide pointed out the amazingly numerous and large plazas. His explanation was that the Romans cherished community building and gathering spaces. That the government used architecture in this way to encourage socializations and keep democracy flowing smoothly. To a large extent, I see the function of coffee houses to be the current Roman plaza. They should build community. If good baristas is where their business plan stops, they are doomed.
I’d like to take a moment to point out two shops that I think are doing a great job of community building at the moment.
- Eljays - Be it their Third Friday jazz series, their other concerts, their wine and liquor tasting events, their sustainable environmental practices, or just their community focus on Delaware St, Eljays is working hard to build a community.
- Songbird Cafe - They have positioned themselves as a meeting point for a neighborhood that previously had no personality, just industry. That, and they have a chilli cookoff scheduled for this Saturday. Yum!
I’m sure there are more. Please tell me about any others you know that are building a community. Nighthawks was trying, others have too. We need to not only highlight those that do currently, but to encourage all shops to do this. Do it for the singles, people :)
