Wednesday, January 23, 2008

When you can get coffee

Here in East Nashville there is a trendy coffeeshop called Portland Brew East (like Portland Oregon, where coffee is born).  I don't, as a general rule, drink a lot of coffee.  But it's a great place to get online and do some work without kids and household distractions around.

San Luis Obispo, CA, a town of about 55,000 is home to Linnaea's Coffee. You can really get any coffee drink (that doesn't contain alcohol), the decor is worn wood, they sell lots of high quality food and baked goods, and feature local artwork.

Nashville Metro Area contains over 1.5 million people.  The zip code 37206 which I and Portland Brew East share (and also defines East Nashville) contains 28,000 residents.  You can get lots of coffee drinks you like at Portland Brew East.  The decor is contemporary, they sell high-end coffee accessories, and feature local artwork.  They don't feature much in food or baked goods.

In San Luis Obispo you can enjoy Linnaea's between 6:30AM and 11PM everyday of the week except Sunday, when you would have to leave at 10PM.  Their seasonal hours often extend to 1AM on Thursday through Saturday.  At one time Linnaea's had an "open all night" policy on Fridays and Saturdays that played an important role in my life.

In East Nashville, however, you can't enjoy any of this after 9PM.  Or before 7AM.  Or at all on Sundays.  If you want coffee, a place to spend some time, a place to meet friends after dinner or a movie, then you have to be done and gone by 9PM.  Except on Sundays, when you have to be done by 9PM the night before.

5 comments:

jenny moon said...

coffee nazis!!!!!

i frequented linnaea's when i lived over there but was unaware of the open all night policy on some weekends...that's a great idea for a college town in particular...

Andrea Rooks said...

Wow, this makes me want to go to Linnaea's at 10 tonight, just because I can...
I finally looked at all your photos -- they're beautiful...

meg said...

i can one up you. the local coffee shop here, in Oregon mind you, closes at 6PM! that's right SIX O'CLOCK in the evening, I'm not even going to call it the "night"

On a happier note, there's a new coffee shop in town.
The Wandering Goat, and let me tell you, they understand what coffee and free internet is all about and they do it right.

one other thing the first coffee shop i mentioned (purposely NOT by name, no free publicity here) doesn't offer free internet, scratch that, they don't offer internet AT ALL!

i'm done.

Alice said...

Portland East isn't open late b/c of the fear of crime - at least that's what the owner said early on. The 12th South location is open until midnight...

Josh (the oak) said...

Alice, thanks for the comment. Fear of crime would make sense, though Rosepepper is open later than 9 and they're just a few doors down (and serve alcohol) and they haven't been dissuaded, but everyone has their own preference for risk I suppose.

I would say that folks here in TN seems to be less addicted to coffee than those in Cali and in the Northwest, that might have something to do with it as well.