THE CAMPUS CROWD : Grounds for Talk : Denny’s in Thousand Oaks and Ventura’s Insomniac Coffeehouse are two places where caffeine fuels students’ discussions.

Coffeehouses have always been the domain of intellectuals, artists and students. Powered by inspiration, curiosity and caffeine, philosophers gather late into the night to discuss everything from poetry to Perot, from crop circles to the nutritional value of hemp. Denny’s in Thousand Oaks and The Insomniac Coffeehouse in Ventura are two places where, for the price of a cup of coffee, starving students get plenty of food for thought.

“There’s really no other place I know of like this Denny’s,” said Dara Halperin, a regular at the coffee shop who will be starting Moorpark College next semester. Halperin was visiting friends in Westlake Village when she was first introduced to the late-night hangout. And even though she was living in Los Angeles before moving to Thousand Oaks, she still made time to visit her favorite spot. “My mother thought I was crazy to drive out 50 miles to visit a Denny’s,” Halperin said. “But this is a very unique place. Some of the most interesting people I’ve known in my life I met here.”

The restaurant is an ordinary looking place by day. Families come in and eat the Grand Slam Special meals. Senior citizens come in and use their discount cards. But after 10 p.m. in the smoking section, it takes on a whole different personality. Not only is the talk varied but so are the fashions.

Suntanned college athletes talk to bald, tattooed men about the presidential elections, while disheveled poets and black-clad musicians discuss the Dada art movement.

“The various dregs of society come here. It’s an artsy place for this area,” said Kevin Shaw, an artist who does illustrations for the Moorpark College student newspaper. Shaw recently completed a work that will be appearing in the third issue of Meathouse, a comic book/arts/social commentary magazine created by Dave Grave, another Denny’s regular. The magazine is given to buddies at the coffeehouse, plus it is distributed in shops on Hollywood Boulevard and Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Books that are making the coffeehouse circuit include beatnik classic “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac plus anything by Kurt Vonnegut or Tom Robbins.

On the other side of the Conejo Grade, students go to the Insomniac Coffeehouse for stimulating conversation. The Insomniac moved last month from its Laurel Street location to its new home at the Mayfair Theater. To keep the ambience in tune with the coffeehouse regulars’ taste, the theater managers pulled out about a third of the theater seats, those closest to the screen, and replaced them with the big, comfortable couches and chairs from the former location. Part of the appeal of The Insomniac is that it feels “like my living room,” said Jym Corbin of Ventura College.

The coffeehouse schedules special events for every night of the week, including poetry and acoustic jam/open mike nights. Nikki Adan, who will be starting Ventura College next semester, regularly participates in both events.

“I think a lot of people have been writing poetry all along, but this is the first time that we’ve ever had a chance to read it for a group. It’s really cool to have a place like The Insomniac where you can go and talk and make friends and you have a chance to perform in front of them,” said Adan, who would like to become a professional singer. “I’ve had a couple of friends come up to me wide-eyed after I sang, and things like that really give me hope.”

FASHION STATEMENTS: There is no such thing as a fashion faux pas at The Insomniac. Anything goes, from tie-dye shirts to thigh-high boots. But back on campus, oversize pants are the fashion.

“People buy jeans that are way too big and then they tie them up at the waist with rope or a belt,” explained Mary Zepeda of Oxnard College. That’s usually topped with a very bright shirt--orange is prevalent--giving the whole ensemble a kind of Ronald McDonald effect, said Carl Soto, also of Oxnard College.

Soto, who works as a silk-screen artist, said Batman T-shirts aren’t as trendy now for “Batman Returns” as they were during the first movie. “It was really hot. People were even shaving it (the bat logo) into their heads.” These days, a popular haircut is to buzz the hair along the sides and around the base of the neck, and leave the rest long.