The Multnomah Villager

You know those cookies at Village Coffee? The big, frosted, pastel-colored ones?
Super.Good.
Especially with a black-as-night french roast.

So last Wednesday, I met Alicia of Digit 13 at Village Coffee, representing my “real life identity”. Digit 13 is Alicia’s web design company, about whose work I cannot say enough good things. She had warned me ahead of time that Village Coffee was her “office away from home” and the stack of her business cards next to the register backed this point up!

How can an area a compact as Multnomah Village support more than one coffee shop? Well, if you’ve lived in Portland for a while you are aware that coffee shops have their own distinct personalities, and customers that fit their particular vibe. Village Coffee is a great example of this. If Starbucks (less than a block away) is the yuppie coffee place, than Village Coffee would be the hippie coffee place. However, that’s far to simplistic a characterization. For me, Village Coffee feels like Portland coffee shops USED to be, before the ubiquitousness of Starbucks and their sub-brands took over every other corner.

It’s tight in there, four tables inside, and it’s always warm - which is a welcome thing this season. The most coveted seats would have to be the row of three old-style theater seats facing the window. Although the outdoor tables would come in a close second. When I was there to meet Alicia, every table was taken with people working, meeting and talking. The outside was full too, despite the biting wind, and of course there was a dog on the sidewalk. There is ALWAYS a dog in front of Village Coffee, or so it seems. There are also a core group of regulars. One of whom has had to move on to a different shop since falling victim to the infamous condo conversion of the Meditteranean Apartments down the street. I didn’t know him, but no matter when I drove by (which is often, since I live on 35th) that guy was outside. Day or night. They must have taken a revenue hit when he had to move!

Village Coffee features organic roasted coffee with several different flavors, and a huge wall of Torani syrups, if you swing that way. There are massive quantities of reading material, games etc. This is not the shop to pop into to get your fix on the way to work - although you SHOULD, since it beats standing on line at Starbucks, but this is a shop in which to linger - pull out your sketchbook or your laptop, try to score a theater seat and watch the village go by. The vibe is friendly and conversational.

Oh, a note about laptops - if you’re working on your computer, you’re working offline. No wireless. It’s OK, you can handle it. In fact, maybe leave the machine at home this time and savor the experience. Village Coffee is a hangout, and I mean that in the best sense of the word.

Picked a great week to start a Village ‘blog… My digital camera is on vacation without me, and I don’t think “started a neighborhood ‘blog” is a sufficient excuse to justify the purchase of a new digital camera (which I have been craving) to Mrs. Villager.

Next week.

Also, I’ll be out of town this weekend and I wil miss First Friday. First Friday is the time every month where all the Village businesses stay open until at least 8PM, and there are plenty of people around. Last month there were at least two groups of musicians along the sidewalks. Some middle-school-aged string players just along the main drag, and a folk/guitar combo outside Village Coffee, where I’ve just found out, the Portland French Conversation Group meets every Saturday (Samedi) at 2PM. I don’t speak french, but I love croissants….