Downtown’s Little Treasure Remains Buried

Terry’s Coffee Shop is an out-of-the-way place in a busy location--the southwest corner of 3rd Avenue and A Street downtown. Don’t look for a sign, though. Terry’s is tucked all but invisibly into the ground floor of the Centre City Building, one of downtown’s older (and better) works of high-rise architecture. The coffee shop caters almost entirely to the building’s tenants, and to the few outsiders who feel lucky to have chanced on it.

This clientele has proved steady enough to keep Terry’s in business for about two decades, through a succession of owners (nobody seems to remember who the original “Terry” was or is, but the name sticks).

The place has what it takes: An “A” sanitary rating posted on the entranceway; six comfortable booths; a long central counter with seating all round, and a modest “non-smoking” area of about eight seats. There are no windows, but a blown-up series of beach-and-boat photos suggest the outdoors gamely enough. A wooden plaque admonishes, “Don’t complain about the coffee--you might be old and weak yourself someday.”

The coffee is fresh and strong, and the food is coffee-shop good, served on the sort of clean yet worn-to-the-tooth service that has survived owner after owner. The morning special is unbeatable--two eggs as you like ‘em, two strips of bacon, a heaping of first-rate home fries and two slices of buttered toast. The price is $1.80, and this includes the two sealed plastic containers of jelly for which there is really no room on the plate. The waitresses are friendly and know their game; upon sitting down, all you need do is turn your clean, upside-down coffee cup right-side up and they’ll fill it, no questions asked.

For the past eight years, Terry’s survival formula has gone untampered with by its current owners, Ted and Tami Kobs, though they figure things could go better. According to Tami, who was waitressing on Monday morning, Terry’s remains one of downtown’s little-known treasures simply because the building’s owner has never permitted any of its proprietors to hang an outside sign. And city ordinances forbid an A-frame sidewalk placard, Tami says.

“It seems unfair,” said Tami, refilling a cup of coffee. “All this talk about redevelopment and building up downtown, and it seems no one will let us build up our own little corner of the city.” Knowing this, why then did Ted and Tami take over Terry’s in the first place?

“Well, we really bought the hours,” Tami explained. “No nights, no weekends. We’re just open weekdays, and that’s what we wanted. We’ve been in business for 20 years, and we don’t want to work any more than that at this point.” Tami’s a Massachusetts native, but she and Ted hail most recently from Orange County. “We do like it here in San Diego,” she says with a good waitress’s mix of patience and cheer. “We don’t mind waiting for this downtown to grow up.”

Masterful Mystery

Freudian Slip Department: Maybe Terry Cole-Whittaker has resigned her ministry, but the charismatic priestess of prosperity hasn’t quit the self-improvement game. Saturday and Sunday at the Convention and Performing Arts Center downtown, Cole-Whittaker will conduct a course titled “Unveiling the Mysteries of Yourself.” All are welcome, at the special two-day tuition rate of $375. According to the press release, “the course continues a fundamental purpose of Terry Cole-Whittaker’s: to help you know and understand creation and manifestation”--but the rest of the sentence is marred by either a typographical or mental error. The concluding phrase should be, “so you become your own master”; instead it reads, “so you become your our master.” Well, at $375 for a weekend course, somebody’s mastering somebody.

A Depressing Thought

The Feighner Research Institute in La Mesa is seeking more than 175 volunteers for a study of a new medication for the treatment of depression. According to the institute, many people suffer symptoms of depression but aren’t sure if they’re serious enough to warrant medical help. So prospective volunteers for the study are being encouraged to call the institute for a quick phone screening. This seems to be a no-win proposition. Anyone who learns over the phone that symptoms of depression make him a candidate for treatment is bound to feel worse upon hanging up. By the same token, those who are told they don’t sound depressed enough might end up worse off from that rejection. Consider the perks, though, as listed in the Feighner press release: “Participants will receive, FREE OF CHARGE, a physical examination, laboratory tests, EKG, weekly visits with a physician . . . “ Talk about incentives.