I’ve been associating a lot of “P” words with cooking and food recently: perspective, patience, perseverance, peaches, pie…Now I’d like to add another “P” word to the mix: La Promenade. This fantastic cafe (not pictured) in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond neighborhood revealed itself to me completely out of the blue and I’m so glad to have discovered it! It has an old fashioned feel, with old jazz playing, dark wood furnishings, nooks and crannies, and a wall full of books. As I settled in with my latte and laptop, I gazed around and pondered the current state of cafe culture.
In recent years a surge of cafes around the country and the world have made a point of not allowing laptops. While I appreciate the sentiment and agree there is a need to encourage more human interaction, I’ve been searching for a good cafe to do work for some time now. I went to school in Boulder, Colorado and got very used to having a lot to choose from! In what seemed like such a small area, there were all manner of coffee shops in Boulder, suitable to all different personalities. My personal favorite was Folsom St. Coffee. With it’s comfortable couches, arm chairs, long tables and multiple outlets, it was a mecca for students.
It is entirely understandable from a business standpoint why a cafe would want to limit laptop use. People get comfortable and sit far longer than their purchases take to drink or eat, therefore not freeing up space for new patrons. But is it any different than the, albeit romanticized, cafe culture of the 20’s and 30’s where authors and artists would gather to philosophize? Is it just that we are nostalgic for the days of pre-laptop? Because I still find, even with our devices, people are eager to communicate, especially in an environment with such a rich romanticism attached. Or sometimes it can be as simple as saying “excuse me, I can’t reach that plug. Would you mind helping me?” You never know where it could lead.
What are your thoughts? Is traditional cafe culture dead or are we simply experiencing it’s next iteration?
Photo Credit
“Light Painting” via Flickr
“Israeli Tourism” via Flickr
Eat Well, Travel Well ~ Samantha