Taking back the weekend
“It’s too early to say whether it’s a trend, but Victrola Coffee & Art in Seattle shuts down its free Wi-Fi on Saturday and Sunday.”
Victrola has been, since opening, my favorite Cap Hill coffee house, but I admit, I’ve stopped going. It’s been nigh impossible to get in and once you’re in, it’s just as difficult to get a table. The last time we were there, the husband pointed out that every table along the north wall had one single person with one laptop at it, from the window to the back of the store, all facing the same way like passengers on a bus. We’ve been going elsewhere, to the new Fuel on 19th, the not so new but suspected Republican Europa on Prospect, the Essential Bakery in Madison, or that tiny Fargonian, also on Madison. Oh, there’s a little place on Union and 20th, they’re awfully nice there. Hell, there’s even a Tully’s on 19th and Aloha. And, of course, there’s Verite, but it’s not really on our regular route and it’s a little too far to walk. Anyhow, there’s no shortage of alternatives.
The Euro-husband loves going for “kaffee und kuchen” - it’s fairly institutional behavior where he’s from. It’s interesting to think about Victrola, full of the technorati with their iBooks and Americanos and then to imagine someplace like the Zauner in Bad Ischl on a Sunday, full of hatted ladies in church clothes with a slice of fruit tart and a cup of tea. I’m not saying that one is better than the other. I’ve been meeting a collegue at Zoka in Wallingford for coffee and project management chats regularly. There’s been many a time when I’ve thought it would be nice to go to the coffee house in Aigen (my other home in Austria) with the laptop to get a latte and read my email. And even though I don’t need the calories, I fully embrace the kaffee und kuchen excursion.
It’s cool that Victrola is looking to strike a compromise between the dominant styles of coffee house cultures. I hope it works for them.
