a visit to the secret cafe
Dec. 18th, 2009 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacThose who receive the monthly e-mail newsletters from San Francisco's Borderlands bookstore - my principal source these days for what's going on in the science fiction/fantasy publishing field - know of their secret plan that's been in the works these many moons: to lease the empty space next door and turn it into a cafe.
Tonight was the pre-opening party, announced to readers of the newsletter, so having an agenda that could accommodate the trip to the City, I decided to show up and see the long-awaited result. The cafe isn't yet open to the public; there's no signs, opaqueness is still over the front windows, and the door was shut.
But it was unlocked, and inside was a beautiful open space, new counter with gleaming kitchen behind it, chairs and tables, lots of munchies to eat and drinks to be had, and, as this is the offshoot of a bookstore, a vast extent of racks with all the fifty-cent used paperbacks that had migrated from next door. All were, of course, sf/f, with the solitary exceptions that I noticed of one Arthur Clarke space exploration book, and a copy of Mr. Sammler's Planet, which probably sneaked in via its title.
A few snacks, a glass of lemonade, a few conversations, and $3 worth of paperbacks later, I was on my way.
Tonight was the pre-opening party, announced to readers of the newsletter, so having an agenda that could accommodate the trip to the City, I decided to show up and see the long-awaited result. The cafe isn't yet open to the public; there's no signs, opaqueness is still over the front windows, and the door was shut.
But it was unlocked, and inside was a beautiful open space, new counter with gleaming kitchen behind it, chairs and tables, lots of munchies to eat and drinks to be had, and, as this is the offshoot of a bookstore, a vast extent of racks with all the fifty-cent used paperbacks that had migrated from next door. All were, of course, sf/f, with the solitary exceptions that I noticed of one Arthur Clarke space exploration book, and a copy of Mr. Sammler's Planet, which probably sneaked in via its title.
A few snacks, a glass of lemonade, a few conversations, and $3 worth of paperbacks later, I was on my way.
