Farewell Familiar Cafe
John's Cafe has been on Lower Greenville Avenue for 33 years. I've been going there for about 10 of those years, usually on Saturdays, sometimes on Sundays and occassionally both. The food is great. But better, it is a small place where I always feel comfortable. You get the coffee yourself, pour some for the others who are around you and pick up your food when John --- a Greek immigrant who could barely speak any English when he opened the place --- booms out your order number in his massive baritone voice.
When I started going to John's in 1996, it was frequented by old guys who liked to talk politics, hipsters who were just finishing off their nights, urban pioneers and air conditioning repair men. While the loyal clientele still attend John's, the customers have gentrified like the neighborhood around it. Now, the expensive European cars and new SUVs outnumber the pickup trucks in the parking lot.
John's Cafe's days are numbered as he has to move out at the end of the month because a real estate developer is knocking down the 1911 storefront building to put up a bank. Just behind John's, all of the sagging but restorable Craftsman bungalow houses have already been knocked down and replaced by soaring two story brick monstrosities.
John couldn't find an affordable location to move to in the same neighborhood, so he's moving his cafe way north where the suburbs of Dallas start.
As I was eating a piece of bacon and reading the paper, I had to scoot down at the communal table that runs the length of the cafe to make way for whitey-white bread family and their three small children. There were several other SUV families in the booths that line the long window of the cafe. It was as if John's had already moved to the suburbs. I knew I had just eaten my last breakfast there.
When I started going to John's in 1996, it was frequented by old guys who liked to talk politics, hipsters who were just finishing off their nights, urban pioneers and air conditioning repair men. While the loyal clientele still attend John's, the customers have gentrified like the neighborhood around it. Now, the expensive European cars and new SUVs outnumber the pickup trucks in the parking lot.
John's Cafe's days are numbered as he has to move out at the end of the month because a real estate developer is knocking down the 1911 storefront building to put up a bank. Just behind John's, all of the sagging but restorable Craftsman bungalow houses have already been knocked down and replaced by soaring two story brick monstrosities.
John couldn't find an affordable location to move to in the same neighborhood, so he's moving his cafe way north where the suburbs of Dallas start.
As I was eating a piece of bacon and reading the paper, I had to scoot down at the communal table that runs the length of the cafe to make way for whitey-white bread family and their three small children. There were several other SUV families in the booths that line the long window of the cafe. It was as if John's had already moved to the suburbs. I knew I had just eaten my last breakfast there.
posted by john clarke at 1:58 PM
3 Comments:
I'm sure the same thought crossed the minds of the natives as they scooted down the table to make room for the Pilgrims on Thanksgiving Day. There goes the neighborhood.
I don't hate white people; some of my best friends are white. But this suburbification process is pretty sad to watch. Its not a local phenomenon either; its going on all across the country. Someday we will all live in one giant homogenized, pasteurized, suburban wasteland with gated communities and a WalMart on every corner.
Goodbye, John's Cafe.
-K.
This is one of the saddest posts I have ever read. I have eaten many a wonderful plate of greasy eggs and buttered toast at the great John's. Do we really need another bank?
As part of my resistance to Orwell-speak (e.g. ''Peacekeeper'' missiles), I've taken to calling ''developers'' ''builders.'' IMO, they don't ''develop'' -- they just knock down trees (or, older buildings) for new, generic buildings.
--GG
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