Sidewalk Coffee Drinkers Form Friendship Society

Forget happy hour at the Holiday Inn. Skip the Friday night Moose Lodge social. And don’t even give the Spinster’s Club a second thought.

If it’s companionship you crave, try the cement sidewalk at Walnut and Vine--home of Peet’s unofficial carry-out coffee klatch, where friendships are made, business deals hammered out and the world’s problems solved in less than an hour.

Best of all, there are no tips, no membership fees and no pushy employees telling you to hurry up because another party’s waiting for your table.

This is strictly a sidewalk standing-room-only affair--the stools came out years ago--where the price of admission is 30 cents for a morning fix of French Roast or Mocha Java served steaming hot and strong in a Styrofoam cup. Bring your own cup and Peet’s gourmet coffee palace promises a nickel discount.

10-Year Participant

“I’ve been coming here for 10 years,” said O. R. Johnson, 58, a retired automobile dealer. “It’s beautiful because this is one of the few places you can stand on the sidewalk and have a cup of coffee, and come and go as you please.”

Johnson is one of a loyal clique of 25 to 30 locals who frequent the store’s sidewalk nearly every morning, rain or shine.

Included are a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a veteran of the Royal Dutch Navy and even some police.

“We’re all pretty liberal, but we’re not far-out,” said retired school Principal Vic Lobree, 65, cradling his coffee cup on an overcast winter morning.

And how does one qualify for membership?

Membership ‘Limited’

“It’s absolutely by invitation only, and is not open to the general public,” cracked Berkeley police officer Don Clendenen, who for nearly a decade has included Peet’s in his morning beat check. “We accept only the people that hang out regularly on the corner.”

So well does the group mix that Clendenen has helped organize potluck dinners for his mates. They’ve also had barbecues, baseball games, pancake breakfasts, chili cook-offs and dances.

Peet’s employee Steven Lucas, 27, has been watching the morning ritual for more than five years.

It usually starts at about 8:50 a.m.--10 minutes before the store opens for business. The regulars begin loitering outside. They pace back and forth, check their watches or grab a newspaper from the corner rack.

Precisely at 9 a.m. the doors swing open and the rush is on. Lucas estimates that more than 1,000 cups of coffee are served daily at Peet’s.

“The rush won’t stop for another two hours,” Lucas said. “I almost feel this place is Grand Central Station West.”