Great Coffee Houses

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 02:11 PM

"The North Beach Bolero"; dear god, how to react to that; "like wow, man!"
Well, I guess people with limited talent have a right to have fun, too!

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: Amos
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 02:47 PM

HEy, FP, don' be goin' all bourgeois on us, man, ya know? It's all the same dharma, like....ya don' wanna lose sight of that, man, no matter what, ya know what I mean??? Keep the vibes cool, man....

A

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,wes
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 07:23 PM

In New York there were some very "disepitomable" bistros - the Cafe Why Not accross the street from the Wha, and another whose location I forget was the Dragon's Den. Between gigs we hung out at the Rienzi or at the Minnetta.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 12:03 AM

Good to see this come around again.
A long-shot question: does anyone else here have any memory of The Broken Wall, just off Foster Ave in Chicago, across from North Park College? It was very small, church operated, but not that "Churchy" except for very informal worship on Sunday morning. I brewed, poured, and washed up one night a week for at least a few months. We actually had some very decent Chicago scene performers on occasion: Thom Bishop, Dodie (Kallick?), Patricia Kerr...an older black gent with New Orleans background, whose name I never got, who played as good a "harp" as I have ever heard...John Calhoun hung out quite a bit, besides playing with some regularity.
Now I'm sitting here trying to believe that it was forty years ago.
                           Dean

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: frogprince
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 12:08 AM

And that was me, tearing nostologically in my beer. Hadn't lost my cookie in a long time.
                Dean

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 02:05 PM

In NY, at least, the coffeehouse was a phenomenon created to cater to underage patrons---the drinking age was 21. More established folk music
venues all served booze---and were out of bounds to young folkies.

Subject: RE: Great Toronto Coffee Houses
From: Crowhugger
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 02:32 PM

(Bad-memory-alert: I might have asked this on another coffee house thread some years ago, but haven't been able to find it again yet, forgot to add it to my tracer...)

Does anyone recall the name of a Toronto coffee house that was on Avenue Rd (east side) just a very few doors north of Davenport, in the mid-late 1970s? As I recall there were a few steps down just inside the front door. The stage was at the front but situated such that people entering weren't too disruptive to a performance. It was run by an "older" (LOL, he was probably younger than I am now) south-Asian man whose name completely escapes me. I did my very first truly public performance there, public as in the the audience included strangers. That evening (some kind of open stage) Veronica Boyd and I sang Sweet-Talkin' Denny by Bob Bossin as well as some songs she wrote.

To be fair I'm not sure this coffee house was "great" by any objective measure but I sure found it a great neighbourhood place to hear so many musicians, and to enjoy company and conversation, without having to go to a bar. And holy smokes, to be able to get up and play on a particular night of the week struck me at the time as a spectacular bonus. (What the heck, I was young and naive and new to Toronto.)

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 03:27 PM

Regarding coffeehouses in New York catering to teenagers:

Right around 1960, some tight-assed Seattle City Council person decided (without ever having visited one) that coffeehouses were dens of drugs, sex, and (Horrors!!) folk singers! Wasted a lot of time and taxpayers' money arguing that one, and eventually came up with a city ordinance about having to be eighteen to enter a coffeehouse.

I recall lots of curious and eager noses pressed against the front windows of various coffeehouses (those that had windows). But I don't think any of the coffeehouse owners ever carded the patrons, even the very young-looking ones.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,sandrolin
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 03:36 PM

I've been searching the wide web over for fellow pre-historic *Owl and Monkey* coffee housians from 1970-1977
Irving Street San Fran.

and yes ... the upper west side Focus Coffee House (1968 ish) bred many commedians that were to hit the SNL Bigtime..
but hell our late into the early humor was BAD:-)and i've simply never recovered.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,Witherspoon
Date: 03 Jan 13 - 03:28 AM

On the OKC University campus 1966 -67 a moment in time with deep velvet couches dark walls black light posters and non alcoholic drinks. I do not remember its name but in the mid evenings of mid revolution it was so very heady.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,sandy
Date: 23 Mar 14 - 12:42 PM

Does anyone remember the "Den of Socrates" on a small side street in Venice Beach, CA in the mid 60's? We used to go to hear a wonderful guitarist whose first name was Tim. All painted black inside, small stage, round tables, so-so coffee but we didn't care! We always left there feeling very cool and sophisticated!

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,Guest - Lin
Date: 24 Mar 14 - 01:20 AM

Someone named Sheridan805 posted an inquiry about a coffeehouse on Fairfax Avenue and didn't remember the name of it. It was a great coffeehouse called, The Blue Grotto. I was very young - 15 & 16 and would go there all the time - even on school nights sometimes.

You would walk down this narrow dark pathway to enter into the doors and the first room you when you entered was where they had the jukebox - always playing Peter, Paul & Mary's song, "The Great Mandela" or the Animals singing, "House of the Rising Sun"
I think you got three songs for 25 cents.

A guy named Foster ran the place and they served coffee, tea and little snacks, cookies or pastries. It was sort of dark and there were candles on tables.
Then you could walk into the middle small room that was real dark and just had some blue light in there. The back room had a pool table and people would just sit around singing (not a stage.)

The restroom was cool. Everyone, (including me) would write or draw things on the walls. I would draw faces of curly haired guys - being I was in love with Donovan and a boy that I knew at the coffeehouse named Marty who was also a folk singer.
We were all so young and happy.
Sometimes the West Hollywood Sheriffs would come in there looking for kids under 18 (after 10 PM curfew time) and they would tell you to go right home. Or they could take you in but mostly told you to go home if you were under 18 - and I looked very young and small!

Other coffeehouses in L.A. were the Fifth Estate, The Garrett,
The Infinite Mind, Pandoras Box (I couldn't get in there as I was under 18.) The Ash Grove.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,Guest - Lin
Date: 24 Mar 14 - 01:24 AM

Oops, accidently submitted my message above twice. Submitted it the first time and it didn't seem like it went through - so submitted again. :-)

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Mar 14 - 07:32 PM

Kawa Espresso Bar, Calgary. Wine, beer, some entertainment.

May have been mentioned up above, haven't looked.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,GUEST: St. Paul Girl
Date: 12 Jul 14 - 03:32 AM

I've actually read every post above from 1999 on ...whew! ...looking to see if there was any mention of the "UNICORN" in downtown Saint Paul Minnesota, and there was not.

Probably because it was not a "great" coffee house, but it made an impact in roughly 1961 through 1966.

It was in an alley in a block off the corner of 7th Street and St. Peter Street. It was owned by a man named Gene Cassidy [sp?] who lived in an apartment above who had many parties up there. The only way to get to the party was via an elevator that one hoisted up with a rope pulley.

It was not "Alley 29", the other downtown coffee house.

We were still in high school when we started hanging out there as often as we could. The music and vibe was more 50's beatnik with poetry readings, as well, but morphed into the Folk Music of the 60's as it became more mainstream and popular.

Does anyone who follows this thread recall the place? It seems to be erased from the history books ...

Thanks, Seaneen

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,Bill
Date: 05 Oct 14 - 05:07 PM

The only coffee house I remember on Avenue Rd. was the NightOwl on west side of Avenue Road near Yorkville. The band Edward Bear used to play there regularly.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,johnnvic
Date: 06 Nov 14 - 06:45 PM

I performed at.the Sword and Stone on Charles Street in Boston in the 70s. I did standup.comedy.there among the folk singers. My friend Paul.and I started a regular comedy.night and I learned about the place from Jay Leno when he was still living in Boston and going to Emerson College. I'm.glad to m3n see.it hasn't been forgotten. The owner was a.short tempered guy named Mark and he had a very lovely girlfriend and waitress named Joy.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: PHJim
Date: 07 Nov 14 - 04:26 PM

Hamilton - The Black Swan
         - The Ebony Knight
         - The Happy Medium
later on- Knight II

Stratford- The Black Swan

Toronto - The Riverboat
         - The Bohemian Embassy

Ottawa   - L'Hibou

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 07:09 AM

Not much different than posting 15 years go.
The all had open mic nights and allowed under 21.

"Golden Bear"- Huntington Beach California ( small brass plaque in a back corner of a shopping mall commemorates the location) Monday

jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/golden-bear-306-ocean-avenue-huntington.html



"Lighthouse" - Redondo Beach California. (Jazz) Tuesday

wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_Café



"Coffee Gallery" - Pasadena California (still going)

www.coffeegallery.com/



"Ice House" - Pasadena California (now a comedy club) Thursday

" It was opened in 1960 by Willard Chilcott who, soon after, took on folk music icon Bob Stane as his partner.[

From 1960 to 1978 The Ice House was one of the top folk music clubs in the country with acts coming from around the country to perform" (from wiki)


"The E Bar " - Pasadena California (aka Expresso Bar aka Express Yourself Bar)

articles.latimes.com/1990-10-17/news/ga-2463_1_espresso-bar


Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 08 Nov 14 - 12:23 PM

I've got to put in a plug for my home base, Stone Soup Coffeehouse, originally located in Providence, RI, but for the last several years in Pawtucket, RI. Within each city it has had many locations but this year has returned to Pawtucket's Slater Mill on the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. The Slater Mill is the Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. If audience members come in the afternoon, they can tour the mill and it's neighboring buildings, the Wilkinson Mill and the Sylvanus Brown House. Then they can go out for dinner and return for an evening of music. Over the years Stone Soup has featured local, regional, and national performers.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,Judah
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 10:04 PM

Does anyone know whatever happened to singer-songwriter Billy Mitchell, who used to headline in the remnant of the Fat Black Pussycat at the Feenjon Cafe in Greenwich Village? (I briefly was an assistant manager there.) Well, I mention him in my new book, and I would love to get a copy to him. Please contact me through my website, http://hokuhouse.com. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Great Coffee Houses
From: GUEST,Paul Ernest
Date: 06 Aug 20 - 01:05 PM

Many of your stories here fit well with the Witches Cauldron 60s memories site I've been building 2020 do get in touch to share more   https://sites.google.com/site/witchescauldron60s/home

Subject: Witches Cauldron 60s cofe bar
From: GUEST,Paul Ernest
Date: 06 Aug 20 - 01:06 PM

Many of your stories here fit well with the Witches Cauldron 60s memories site I've been building 2020 do get in touch to share more   https://sites.google.com/site/witchescauldron60s/home