NIGHT MOVES : Transplanting the Coffeehouse Culture

Linger a few minutes in Gasoline Alley, and you’ll realize that it’s not just another of Melrose Avenue’s trendy trattoria.

At one table, a group of people is playing a loud game of Pictionary. Five feet away, a young man, impervious to the noise, reads Gunther Grass. A teen-age girl sips a soda while puzzling over algebra homework. And in one corner a man sits all alone, quite content to while away an hour or two with some people-watching.

Gasoline Alley isn’t a coffee shop. It’s a coffeehouse: a place for socializing, playing games, reading, being with friends or being alone in a crowd. It’s a place where one can sit for hours with a bottomless $1 cup of coffee and a book. In pedestrian-heavy areas of Manhattan and San Francisco, coffeehouses are popular, but the car culture of Los Angeles has not lent itself to neighborhood coffeehouses.

“When both of us came to L.A., that was the biggest shock. There was no place to go at night besides the bars,” said Sharyn Rubenstein, who opened Gasoline Alley with partner Victor Puca in 1985.

Four years ago, Rubenstein was a self-described “Valley housewife” who met Puca when she hired him to paint her house. Both were ex-New Yorkers who wanted to go into business for themselves, and both of them had memories of long evenings spent in Manhattan coffeehouses.

When they opened Gasoline Alley in February, 1985, Rubenstein and Puca had little to offer but a dozen tables, freshly ground coffee and a few desserts. They also brought in some board games for customers’ use: Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, backgammon, dominoes and others, which are still free to use with a minimum purchase. They had little to spend on publicity, and it took awhile for word-of-mouth to build.

The novelty of a modern coffeehouse finally attracted some favorable publicity, and Gasoline Alley slowly built a steady clientele of regulars. The regulars brought friends, and before long Puca and Rubenstein began expanding, offering sandwiches and salads as well as desserts, displaying work by local artists (they’re booked through 1990) and holding readings by writers such as David Trinidad and Kate Braverman. Last October, they began opening during the day as well.

“People have asked us about expanding or opening other locations,” Rubenstein said. “But we like it this way. We’re still the chefs, the cashiers and the staff.”

Today, Gasoline Alley patrons come in from all over the Los Angeles area.

“We’ve had one marriage from people who have met here,” Rubenstein said.

“One known marriage,” corrected Puca, stretching to wave at a thin man who had just arrived with friends. “Is he still the mayor of West Hollywood?” he asked.

“I’m not sure . . . And a lot of love affairs. We go through them with the customers. It’s like being a bartender sometimes,” Rubenstein added.

Customers have their own tales to tell. Like the time two hippies parked their car outside and peddled their used paperbacks to emerging patrons. Mara Mikialian, who was having coffee and dessert there recently, recounted one night when someone in the room began writing a story and started passing it around. When everyone had had a turn, the completed patchwork story was read aloud.

Since Gasoline Alley became a success, other coffeehouses, such as the PikMeUp, have sprung up around Los Angeles. But Puca and Rubenstein say they don’t see other coffeehouses as competitors.

“There’s room in this town for about 15 more,” Rubenstein said, citing downtown Santa Monica as an area where she sees the need for a coffeehouse.

Puca agreed. “Yeah, if anybody comes in here wanting to open their own coffeehouse, Sharyn and I will sit them down and tell them about the facts.”

“Business licenses, permits,” Rubenstein said, rolling her eyes.

“It’s a lot of work,” agreed her partner. “And sometimes we get tired of it. But the bottom line is: We can call it a toilet and a dive. But don’t you dare.”

Gasoline Alley, 7219 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 937-5177; Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 a.m., Saturday, noon to 3 a.m. and Sunday, noon to midnight.