Coffeehouses

[cabinetman]

An appropriate topic for stuff about coffee. I'm not referring to places like Starbucks, but places in the early 60's. They were restaurant type establishments that catered to teens and young adults.

They were a no cover, non alcoholic, laid back environment, usually with live entertainment. There would be local folk singer wannabe's like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, likely playing a guitar. A stage of sorts usually had a bar stool for the singer. The places were low key and became meeting places providing a relaxed evening. Menu's consisted of many types of coffee and tea, served with a variety of snacks.

You might be too young to remember or heard of them, and might even ask who is Joan Baez and Bob Dylan?

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[Pappy]

I remember them but they didn't last long. I hit the teen years in the mid 60's and they were pretty much a thing of the past by then. Music had started to evolve from rock and roll toward the psychodelic era.

[RAFlorida]

Yeah, remember them. Fun places usually.

But they started during the so called beatnik era. Remember them (us) very well. lol
Thanks for bringing back so memories.

[BadeMillsap]

Tsgp ...

When I was in High School ... my garage band played one many times ...
The Square Green Pumpkin .. no alcohol mostly middle and high school kids ... was great fun circa 1968

[eezlock]

coffeehouses

If I remember correctly, they were popular in the 60's in places like "the village".
I'm thinking it was Greenwich village in NY on the lower east side or wherever
it was...don't know for sure!

[cwsmith]

I remember them well. They didn't last long and in fact came into fashion rather late in places like Binghamton, NY where I grew up. My favorite local was a place called "The Gate" and up in Endicott (home of IBM), they had a place called the "Village Eye". As I recall, it was sort of a copycat of a place in San Francisco or somewhere, called the "Hungry Eye".

"The Gate" as I frequented it in 1963 and 64, had a cover charge of $1. They sold coffee's and served bagles with cream cheese or "bagels and lox"... I still don't have a clue as to what "lox" is... I just drank lots of coffee back then.

Best part was the music of course. They had singers from the NYC area quite often and also gave the local talent as seat at the mike. I had a girlfriend that sang there often and also had a good friend of mine play there a few times before he left for Vietnam. My friend was quite talented and my girlfriend... well, she looked great up there, I'm not sure I listened to her as much as I just loved looking at her.

The "coffee house" died pretty quickly and in our area was gone in two years. Singing about peace and the indignities of the world is what I think brought it down. Folk music used to be my favorite, but in the 60's it started getting very political. I had most of my friends serving, there wasn't anything to sing about... I stopped going and I think most people started feeling the same.

CWS

[LCHIEN]

lox = smoked (cured) salmon

[cabinetman]

They sold coffee's and served bagles with cream cheese or "bagels and lox"... I still don't have a clue as to what "lox" is... I just drank lots of coffee back then.

There are many different types of lox...

Lox is salmon fillet that has been cured. In its most popular form, it is thinly sliced—less than 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in thickness—and, typically (in North America), served on a bagel, often with cream cheese, onion, tomato, cucumber and capers.[citation needed] Lox in small pieces is also often added and cooked into scrambled eggs, sometimes with chopped onion. The food and its name were introduced to the United States through Scandinavian immigrants, though it was popularized by Jewish immigrants.[1][2] The term lox derives from Lachs in German and לאקס (laks) in Yiddish,[3] meaning "salmon". It is a cognate of Icelandic and Swedish lax, Danish and Norwegian laks, and Old English læx.

Sometimes called regular or belly lox, lox is traditionally made by brining in a solution of water or oil, salt, sugars and spices (the brine). Although the term lox is sometimes applied to smoked salmon, they are different products.[1][2]
Similar products

Nova or Nova Scotia salmon, sometimes called Nova lox, is cured with a milder brine and then cold-smoked. The name dates from a time when much of the salmon in New York City came from Nova Scotia. Today, however, the name refers to the milder brining, as compared to regular lox (or belly lox), and the fish may come from other waters or even be raised on farms.
Scotch or Scottish-style salmon. A mixture of salt and sometimes sugars, spices, and other flavorings is applied directly to the meat of the fish; this is called "dry-brining" or "Scottish-style." The brine mixture is then rinsed off, and the fish is cold-smoked.
Nordic-style smoked salmon. The fish is salt-cured and cold-smoked.
Gravad lax or gravlax. This is a traditional Nordic means of preparing salmon. The salmon is coated with a spice mixture, which often includes dill, sugars, salt, and spices like juniper berry. It is then weighted down to force the moisture from the fish and impart the flavorings. It is often served with a sweet mustard-dill sauce.

Other similar brined and smoked fish products are also popular in delis and fish stores, particularly in the New York City boroughs, such as Sable (smoked cod), smoked sturgeon, smoked whitefish, and kippered herring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lox

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[greenacres2]

Coffee houses still exist...we have a great one here in La Porte, IN...

http://templenews.tripod.com/

Thanks for bringing up the topic--as i looked at the Temple News home page (i didn't even know they had one until a few minutes ago), i was surprised to see my wife and her guitar ("music of the church", top photo). I had a great time for several years going there on Tuesday nights to play in the Bluegrass circle--those were great times. Maybe i should start again....

earl

[tommyt654]

Dang it you guys,now sitting here w/my cup o joe(I know its supposed to be tea) I suddenly have the urge for a bagel with the afforementioned coverings, That being said, I lived here in Atl in the late 60's when the Great Speckled Bird was still in print and they had a few coffeehouse's downtown like ya'll mentioned, sadly there names are no longer in the memory bank. But in the 70's we had a few great local crooners like Ron Kimble, http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=18573333&ac=now , that hit the local taverns and such and it made me reminince about those younger days when you had nice places to go without everyone sitting at a table texting or with an earphone attached to their head or what I now refer to as Uhuras walking zombielike thru the crowds. Those were the days my friends

[os1kne]

There are still a few coffee houses around similar to those mentioned - at least in Western PA. I just moved from there a couple of months ago and have a friend that owns a nice one. While it's a nice place, it's difficult to generate much business in the evening hours. (I suspect that most people going out in the evenings are more likely to visit an establishment with alcohol, and other potential customers have young children and just aren't able to get out very often.)

[JSUPreston]

Someone opened a place like that here in downtown Montgomery, AL a few years ago. Wife and I went there one time to get lunch...way to expensive, and the choices were, shall I say, unique.

My wife gives me fits over the fact that I get stressed out going to places like Starbucks. I get as jumpy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It's so bad, that even when I offer to take her to a place like that, she'll pass, even though she loves going there.

Personally, one of my favorite places was a local dive called Diamond Dave's in J'ville, AL. Real upscale dining on one side of the place, with a good old college dive on the other. Great food, and if you ordered a meal, no cover. Hottest buffalo wings I've ever had were served to me there one time. Used to go hear some really good jazz combos there. Place didn't last long...owner was a real jerk.

[dbhost]

The town I grew up in Oregon was pretty retro hippie wise, and there was, and actually according to their web site, still is one of those places. Allen Bros The Beanery on 2nd street.

I remember this place because the New Wave crowd in High School hung out there nearly every single minute that place was open from the time school let out...