Negril Notes

The Bean Cafe

December 15, 2005

Every time I go into Philly to write I go to Starbucks. Starbucks has a great second floor cafe area with a great view of South Street to sit and people watch, but there is a sterility about the place.

So last time I was in Philly I went to the place I always went before there was a Starbucks, actually I went there up until I got the Starbucks wi-fi deal. Anyway, I went to “The Bean Cafe,” apropos name.

The place was cooler than I remembered, I’d always sat outside with my coffee (better ogling vantage point), but inside it’s a small place with well worn furniture and packed full with South Street bohemian types, all disorganized in a refreshingly un-starbucks, un corporate kind of way. Adverts for new bands, poetry readings and body piercings festooned the walls.

The counter girls were all jacked up on caffeine sporting that cute coffee shop counter girl worldliness that the Starbucks crew just can’t pull off, though these two may have actually been the real thing!

I ordered a latte, found a seat and went to work in my Sponge-Bob notebook that seemed to fit in here. The bathrooms are downstairs and were wonderfully covered in graffiti. It’s like there was a huge party where everyone was asked to sign the wall, or the mirror, or the door, or the toilet lid, or the… You get the idea.

But instead of being trashy or gross the bathrooms were otherwise spotless and the graffiti just added a layer of cool. This place has cool all figured out.

Check it out next time you’re in Philly! South Street beween 6th and 7th.

Peace
Vinny

Filed under: Philly