Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, in Lisbon one of those "modern" coffee shops has celebrated its 230th anniversary.
Those hipsters.
They were hipster before hipster was hipster
The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
91–100 of 178 posts
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#92Why is the author so quick to assume that everyone sees gentrification as something bad? There's been vocal opposition to it, but it doesn't mean that everybody feels that way.
It's a bit tongue in cheek. Also property / rent prices are a major problem in London. All sorts of people are trying to move here and there's an approximately fixed supply.
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#93"what everyone hates about urban change and gentrification – first come the creatives and their coffee shops, then the young professionals, then the luxury high-rises and corporate chains that push out original residents" I personally have no problem with it. And if we're talking about crappy and dangerous neighborhoods that are becoming upscale - I love it. If anything I think it's the sort of process that benefits…
> "what everyone hates about urban change and gentrification – first come the creatives and their coffee shops, then the young professionals, then the luxury high-rises and corporate chains that push out original residents"
> I personally have no problem with it. And if we're talking about crappy and dangerous neighborhoods that are becoming upscale - I love it.
"everyone" in this context meaning "everyone who holds the views of the author"
Here in PGH, "everyone" would mean student activists who are busy decrying the tearing down of several high rise projects in a part of town that had been on a downward slope since the late 70's. Neighborhoods that only a few years ago "closed at dark" (literally) due to pervasive criminality are now economic hubs.
At least in this case, most people seem to be quite happy with economic development in what used to be no-go areas. Nonetheless, there's a vocal minority of affluent art students who are busy putting up graffiti about "preserving culture". You can't ever make everyone happy, but the author's "everyone" isn't in fact everyone.
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#94Commenting on this post while I'm at a coffee shop myself. If I had to pick one city for having the best coffee shops, it would probably be Tel Aviv. The coffee is great, all coffee shops are laptop friendly (and gladly provide you with the wifi password), and people are very open to social interaction with strangers. At any given moment you'll find a designer working on a logo, an architecture student reading a post…
What do you think of Tel Aviv as a place to hang out working on a startup compared to SF? I'm a brit thinking of a change of scene.
The great advantage of SF is its astonishingly consistent climate. I can't speak to Tel Aviv at all, but I'd say make sure you're comfortable working at typical temperatures there - I think that's a key (and unnoticed) part of productivity.
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#95Commenting on this post while I'm at a coffee shop myself. If I had to pick one city for having the best coffee shops, it would probably be Tel Aviv. The coffee is great, all coffee shops are laptop friendly (and gladly provide you with the wifi password), and people are very open to social interaction with strangers. At any given moment you'll find a designer working on a logo, an architecture student reading a post…
When I'm in a coffee shop sometimes the people watching me as I code in a somewhat frenzied manner, kinda weirds me out.
Do you find it easy to block out the peripheral perception that 3-4 people are just staring at you from across the room?
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#96"what everyone hates about urban change and gentrification – first come the creatives and their coffee shops, then the young professionals, then the luxury high-rises and corporate chains that push out original residents" I personally have no problem with it. And if we're talking about crappy and dangerous neighborhoods that are becoming upscale - I love it. If anything I think it's the sort of process that benefits…
> "what everyone hates about urban change and gentrification – first come the creatives and their coffee shops, then the young professionals, then the luxury high-rises and corporate chains that push out original residents" > I personally have no problem with it. And if we're talking about crappy and dangerous neighborhoods that are becoming upscale - I love it. "everyone" in this context meaning "everyone who holds…
I think you used "to decry" to mean exactly the opposite of its actual meaning. ("To decry" means to denounce as harmful, not to promote.)
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "You don't go to war with your trading partners." http://blogs.reuters.com/anatole-kaletsky/2014/06/27/world-w...
Well, you're less likely to go to war with your trading partners.
I'd have thought, at least historically, wars were more likely with trading partners - they're going to be close and, by definition, they have stuff that you want.
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#98Commenting on this post while I'm at a coffee shop myself. If I had to pick one city for having the best coffee shops, it would probably be Tel Aviv. The coffee is great, all coffee shops are laptop friendly (and gladly provide you with the wifi password), and people are very open to social interaction with strangers. At any given moment you'll find a designer working on a logo, an architecture student reading a post…
Laptops are the opposite of what I want to see in cafes, actually I prefer that they have an outright ban
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#99> I love looking in through the outside window and seeing everyone on MacBooks, it’s busy, it’s exciting and yet you’ll get someone walking passed saying ‘Oh my god, look in there, everyone is on a laptop! What’s wrong with them! Why don’t they talk to each other!?’ This is funny, because it perfectly describes the difference in attitude between me and my father. He gets annoyed when he walks into a coffee shop and s…
> I think the atmosphere is quite cozy, and love taking my own stuff to work on I can remember a time (1980's and earlier) when the modern version of the coffee shop didn't exist. The nearest equivalent was a bar: Dimly lit, filled with smoke, loud annoying music, aggressive people, and a waiter coming around every 10 minutes to ask/demand if you want another drink. If you dared bring in some papers or a book to read…
Yea, but there were more little cafes(cafes that encouraged cousomers to stay.), books stores, magazine stands, and people just outside--actually talking to each other. The only look down was maybe a quick adjustment to the Walkman.
In high school, I worked in a little place called cafe Nuvo. No one had laptops, but they talked. They wrote in journals. They read books. Talked about philosophy, and politics. Business people did their paperwork there. It was a neat place, but run horridly by a dentist who didn't know how to run a business.
I recall even the fast foods joints encouraged kids/adults to hang out. I never felt pressured by establishment staff to order something, or leave.
Was it better than today? In a way? I definetly miss the book stores. It was easier to talk to people back then, at least least for myself.
Re: The caffeine curse: why coffee shops have always signalled urban change
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think the atmosphere is quite cozy, and love taking my own stuff to work on I can remember a time (1980's and earlier) when the modern version of the coffee shop didn't exist. The nearest equivalent was a bar: Dimly lit, filled with smoke, loud annoying music, aggressive people, and a waiter coming around every 10 minutes to ask/demand if you want another drink. If you dared bring in some papers or a book to read…
>I can remember a time (1980's and earlier) when the modern version of the coffee shop didn't exist. Are you talking about the US here? I'm pretty sure they've been around in Europe and the Middle East for centuries.
Yeah, he's talking about the US only. My US suburb, quite large, never had a coffee shop until Starbucks in 2001. Sad.