The Caffeine Is Real, the Reality Is Virtual
Here, laptop junkies link up. Internet illiterates learn to surf. And, over latte with almond biscotti, computer socializers send off e-mail.
Here at Cyber Java, the first on-line cafe in Los Angeles, two of the most popular trends of the ‘90s happen at one cool location, just six blocks from Venice Beach. The cafe offers a wide range of computer services, including access to the World Wide Web, CompuServe and America Online while serving espresso drinks and lattes to sustain those who spend hours perusing the information superhighway.
“We thought the two would go together very well. It creates an open and social atmosphere for computer users,” says Rom Agustin, who opened the cafe with partners Glen Norris and Mike Monaghan on July 8.
Modeled after the Internet cafes in San Francisco and New York, where patrons on the go stop to check their e-mail and drink their morning coffee, Cyber Java is user-friendly. Eight personal and Macintosh computers sit atop rustic wood tables. There are 24 laptop stations for portable computers, with plans to install additional computers and link-ups in the coming weeks.
For the traditional coffee shop customer, there’s an outdoor patio with garden furniture behind the cafe. Plans, however, call for laptop link-ups there and in the soon-to-open upstairs conference room.
The social atmosphere of a cafe adds a new spin to the computer age. When on-line activity picked up three years ago, critics worried that computer users would stop talking, work out of virtual offices and lose daily contact with people. At Cyber Java, computer users mingle into the wee hours.
“Just looking around it’s obvious this is a very social atmosphere,” Norris says. “I’m glad it seems to be working so well.”
While browsing, Eddy Vasile had bumped into a posting about the hip new cafe. He arrived at Cyber Java at 9 a.m. on opening day and stayed late into the evening perusing his favorite user group, alt.callahans, a virtual bar where he’s known to virtual patrons as Eddy Viper.
After four cappuccinos, six bagels, four muffins and some chicken curry salad, Vasile, 42, moved over to show first-timer Ian Katz how to use the Internet.
“This place is great,” said Vasile, of Leimert Park. “I’ve always liked cafes and I like the Net. Now I can do both things at the same place.”
A bulletin board on the Internet has made Cyber Java a new buzzword in the L.A. computer community. On a recent evening, Stacey Rosenbaum and Joe Ultsler traveled south from Hollywood and waited nearly 30 minutes for a computer. They learned about the cafe a month ago and had been anxiously awaiting its opening.
While sipping a double hit of espresso, Ultsler opens up Palookaville Hats, a virtual store, where the couple sells goofy hats, and the Global Village Idiot, a user group Ultsler set up.
“We’ll definitely come back,” Ultsler, 30, said. “Maybe with some of the friends we’ve met on the Web.”
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What: Cyber Java, 1029 Abbott Kinney Blvd., Venice. (310) 581-1300. On the World Wide Web: https://199.172.178.200/cyberjava.html.
When: Daily from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Cost: Computer menu: $7.50 per hour, minimum 15 minutes. Includes access to all software, the Internet and modems. Paradise mango tea, $1.25; caffe latte , $1.75; biscotti, $1.
