Recipes for Survival at Coffeehouses: Sushi, Singles, Song

“Black as the devil, hot as hell,

pure as an angel, sweet as love.”

--French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand on the recipe for good coffee.

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For Heidi Aubra, it all began at Cafe Reggio in New York’s Greenwich Village.

She was 19 and the notion of a coffeehouse had never held much allure until she ventured inside the famous Macdougal Street establishment. She was hooked.

Sixteen years later and 2,500 miles away, Aubra and her boyfriend, Eddie Ellner, were enjoying a quiet weekday morning recently at the Novel Cafe in Santa Monica.

“I have my favorites coffee place in every city,” said the clothing designer from Mar Vista.

In Paris, it is Aux Deux Magots.

In Berkeley, Cafe Fanny.

And we already know about New York.

Which brings us to the heart of this story.

For the Novel Cafe is just steps from Santa Monica’s Main Street, which may be the most caffeinated street in California, if not America.

In just over a mile, you can find more than a dozen coffeehouses, bars, bakeries, shops and delicatessens. They range from neighborhood haunts like Wednesday’s House, Napoleon and Van Go’s Ear to satellites of coffee constellations: Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Peet’s.

“Main Street became famous because there’s a lot of retail . . . it’s close to the beach and the coffee shops became rather hot places,” said Shawn Nadery, who opened Napoleon 20 years ago. “A lot of young people became attracted to coming to the coffee places . . . as somewhere to meet.”

Over time, the crowds grew, and so did the competition, taking a big bite out of his business.

“Coffee used to be my main sales [item],” said Nadery. “I used to sell 60 or 70 pounds of coffee a week.”

How far has it dropped?

“Don’t ask,” he said.

So here, along Main Street, the coffee wars are fierce. In a microcosm of America’s business climate, it is big versus small, family business versus franchise, franchise versus franchise. Everyone fighting to carve out enough business to survive.

In the last several years, a few coffee shops--both franchises and one-of-a-kind--have gone under, victims to high leases, bad management or simply changing tastes.

But plenty of coffeehouse businesses remain and do whatever it takes to stay. Some hold poetry readings, some offer sushi, some sponsor Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Even those with brand name identification have to compete.

“One of the things we do . . . is try to contribute to the community,” said Jenny Vincent, the 24-year-old manager of one of two Starbucks within five blocks of each other along Main. (There is talk of a third.)

Vincent’s shop donates coffee to Coastal Cleanup volunteers, participates in the annual Venice Arts Walk and provides coffee for local school events and PTA programs, she said.

Sitting in the sun, his feet propped up on a chair, Efrem Menji sipped his coffee and read the paper at the Starbucks at Navy Street, which he prefers because it has more outside seating than its nearby namesake.

“That’s the main thing,” he said. “It’s less crowded than the other.”

A 32-year-old flight services coordinator at LAX, Menji said his morning visits to this Starbucks began more than a year ago and have become a ritual. A way to start each day. A place to socialize. “And when you are accustomed to something, it [becomes] a habit.”

A few blocks away, street surveyor Art Montini also was at a Starbucks. But his visit was based on expediency.

“I’m working and this is the closest place for me to take a break,” he said, gulping a towering cup.

Not that he would go just anyplace, Montini, 62, emphasized. ‘I’m from Colombia and this is real Colombian coffee,” he said.

While Montini hurries back to work, many along Main Street leisurely enjoy their coffee morning, noon, night.

“Sometimes I get here at 6:30” in the morning, said Joey Gaeta, sitting outside Peet’s. “The latest, 9.”

Sitting on a plastic chair, Gaeta, 39, sketched away on a big white tablet, sipping at his coffee and smoking Lucky Strikes while his dog, Skipper, sat nearby.

A block away, Danny DaRocha was serving up coffee, pastries and sandwiches inside the coffeehouse he opened almost eight years ago, Wednesday’s House.

“I was born on a Wednesday,” he said of the name.

A 32-year-old native of Los Angeles, DaRocha said he opened the coffee house because he wanted the neighborhood to have a place where locals could meet. Like the Pick Me Up in Hollywood, he said. Or the Living Room near mid-Wilshire.

Places, he added, that don’t exist anymore.

“I used to hang out at places like this when I was younger,” he said, standing behind the counter.

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Opening at 6 a.m. and closing at 1 a.m., Wednesday’s House serves up more than food. Every Wednesday night is poetry night--a few years back, DaRocha said, one of the readers was Timothy Leary. Local singers and musicians perform on weekends. A singles group is about to have its first high tea and coffee gathering. Other groups, including Alcoholics Anonymous, have held meetings there for years.

Altogether, those events help keep the shop busy.

As customers read under a ceiling covered with music posters and album covers, or chatted alongside a wall adorned with velvet paintings, DaRocha said he was most gratified that his business has endured because of customer loyalty.

“It’s knowing that people come back, that they like what I’ve done here and they come back,” he said. “It makes me feel good.”

But soon, DaRocha said, he may no longer be able to hold back the night against corporate competition. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll be around,” he said.

The building’s owners have told him they may raze the structure.

Higher lease prices already have taken a toll on Main. And each move inalterably changes the neighborhood.

At Napoleon, owner Nadery said he has been approached by corporate coffee giants about relocating. But after so many years in the business, he isn’t about to close his French bakery or move it.

“Competition is hard, it is extremely hard,” he said. “It is not like the old days. Obviously we have . . . powerful corporate operators.

“But I am a local cafe guy . . . and I am going to continue operating at this location.”

“I am going to be creative,” he said.

His newest menu item: sushi.

As a businessman, Nadery looked to the future.

As customers, Eddie Ellner and Heidi Aubra reminisced about the past.

“Ever since Cafe Reggio . . . going for coffee has been something of a meditative thing for me,” Aubra said. “I drink coffee and write in my journal. It is a way for me to contemplate, a place to sort of put a stop in the day.”

Ellner, a yoga instructor who lives in Santa Barbara, explained that he and Aubra had originally planned on going to a Starbucks on Main. But then they took a detour, he said, to a place that held closer memories.

“I used to come here whenever I needed to change my environment,” he said. Besides, if it was only coffee he was after, “I could certainly brew up some [at] home.”