Well, aside from the $10 day pass at NextSpace, you might want to
check out The Abbey at 350 Mission St.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-abbey-santa-cruz
http://www.abbeylounge.org/
I went to a meeting there once and it felt like a comfortable place to
hang out. I hear it will get more crowded when UCSC students return.
Sara
Hi
I'm new here, so before replying to the question, a brief intro: although I have spent most of my life in Santa Cruz, I now live in Elkhorn near Moss Landing, surrounded by horses, llamas, goats, dogs, and a pot-bellied pig (none of which belong to me, except for one dog named Gracie). I have worked in Monterey as a contract editor for 5 or 6 years now. Thinking about starting a public history research consultancy after I finish grad school in Dec. (I'm a rather "old" grad student.)
As for the question, Coffeetopia on Mission St., near Bay View elementary school, as always worked for me. Sometimes Beckman's bakery, also on the Westside. Both are smallish spaces; Coffeetopia is more geek-friendly, although I have successfully brought in my laptop and worked for hours at both. I have also checked out the Abbey. It's a nice, big space with comfy couches and lots of table-space, inside and outside. The barristas seem inexperienced though, and the pastries are kind of eh.
Hope that helps,
Jean
|
-- Sean
On Mon, 14 Sep 2009, Nick Sobrak-Seaton wrote:
>
> Is this an actual stated policy of theirs? If so, I don't think I'll
> be going back there, as I'm not a fan of such customer-unfriendly
> tactics.
>
Here's an article from the Sentinel with some info:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_13280779
---john.
A well-written article. The situation sounds like a business
opportunity to me. Either for a new wi-fi cafe that's a cross between
what Lulu's Octagon was and NextSpace and/or for someone to come up with
a better business model and charging mechanism for wi-fi usage. A
friend of mine (Frances Cherman, also a Lulu's regular) once suggested
that they put miniature parking meters on the tables.
Seems like a purchase should have some bundled amount of wi-fi time
included and beyond that you pay by the hour. Is there a way of doing
this that isn't intrusive or insulting?
-- Sean
Alan
On Sep 14, 2009, at 15:14 , Sean Gilligan wrote:
> Seems like a purchase should have some bundled amount of wi-fi time
> included and beyond that you pay by the hour. Is there a way of doing
> this that isn't intrusive or insulting?
--
Alan Hawrylyshen
a l a n a t p o l y p h a s e d o t c a
Not an easy problem. That's what makes it an 'opportunity'. NextSpace
seems to be one very good alternative...
-- Sean
> I talked with Manthry a while ago [power outlets, etc]
And Peter it appears you are correct. For those of you who didn't wade
through the sometimes nasty and often hilarious thread of comments,
Manthri posts his own comments part way through:
QUOTE:
I think the interest in this subject speaks to the popularity of both
our coffeehouses and free wireless connectivity. It's worth exploring
the proposition that "the Commons" referenced in this article, rather
than being WiFi bandwidth, availability of power outlets or seating,
is infact the coffeehouse as a community space. Our perspective after
doing this a quarter-century, is that we operate coffeehouses with a
view to creating a space for community to gather. We have only
accidentally become a "WiFi cafe", by virtue of the fact that we
haven't done anything to dispel the notion that we are. Now that we
are doing so, it is understandable that some of our clients are
surprised and upset. For this, I apologize.
Internet use results in a disconnect between the user and ones'
physical surroundings, similar to watching television. No moral
judgement here. I do it too. In a coffeehouse however, this results in
rooms full of solitary people with no connection to the space or the
people around them and has the unfortunate effect of crowding out any
other sort of activity. Which of course is how we come to the
misconception that we are a "WiFi cafe".
While we have always endeavoured to make ourselves available to as
wide a group of people as possible (I'll admit that the folks who
bring up our strict policies about outside food and drink and general
decorum are largely correct. We're sticklers for that stuff, and I'm
always baffled when someone doesn't understand that they shouldn't
bring food and drink to a restaurant), we have also come to the
realization that the use of our space, "the Commons" if you will, is
something of a zero-sum proposition. We can either have rooms full of
laptop users or rooms half-full of folks having a cup of coffee with a
friend. Not both.
We have chosen to return to our roots as a coffeehouse where folks can
come to converse with friends, read books, hold meetings and religious
studys, listen to live music and generally have an experience that
transcends Explorer or - if you're a bit more savvy - Firefox. We
regretfully realize that this means that people who "must" have
Internet access will be unable to use our space, at least for now,
unless they bring in wireless cards or tethering capability. Of
course, on the flip side, it's been nice to see a new clientele who
want something different from a coffeehouse.
Moving beyond the personal issues that manifest themselves in a forum
such as this, I'd like to thank those readers who are offering
constructive solutions to our quandry. I think we've covered most of
that ground over the past 15 years, but we'll continue to revisit it
to see if better solutions present themselves down the road. As things
stand, we're going to leave the WiFi intact downtown and remove all
the power outlets, for obvious reasons. We need to move on from this
right now, however. I'm sure there are ways for us to solve everyone's
connectivity issues, but this really is not our charter. There are
many things we could do to make money. Selling umbrellas and offering/
charging for WiFi access are two of them. We're in neither business.
We're old-style coffeehouse operators who came to this pass by
accident. We were pioneers in offering WiFi when hardly anyone knew
what it was, and we will be pioneers in moving beyond it. We're
comfortable in that space. It's largely been why we operate the
busiest cafes in town.
Regarding WiFi access, as many readers have pointed out, every other
cafe offers it. Getting connected should be easy for anyone whose
purchasing decision is predicated on this, and we respect that.
As for us, we'll add beer and wine, better food selections, and
continue to improve our products and services till we get it right,
and till we rebuild our business to suit our long-term objectives.
That's a better future for us.
Thanks for your time.
END QUOTE.
I used to go to Lulu’s a good deal in the evenings to read, sketch ideas, meet peeps, and if all else failed stare at the ceiling and dream, but gave up the habit two or three years back when I could never find space. I like using my laptop in a café as much as anyone, but too many people sit there for hours with an empty coffee cup beside them. Removing the internet squatters will free the space to be the way it was: full of talk, with a reasonable turnover of people and a table or two being freed up every few minutes.
- Chris
Chris Yonge, Principal
Studio Cruz
Design, Technical Animation, 3D Visualization
studio and mailing address:
227 Morrissey Boulevard
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
meeting and presentation space:
101 Cooper Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
studio 831 458 2752
cell 831 251 3401
www.studiocruz.com
-----Original
Message-----
From: santacr...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:santacr...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Peter Chester
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 3:41 PM
To: santacr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Geek Friendly Cafe
I talked with Manthry a while ago. he was thinking of turning off
… you’d get all these geeks hanging out in the place for days on end, glued to their laptops. It’d never work.
Chris Yonge
Principal
Studio Cruz
office:
101 Cooper Street
Santa
Cruz, CA 95060
studio: 227 Morrissey Boulevard
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
www.studiocruz.com
studio 831 458 2752
cell 831 251 3401
From: santacr...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:santacr...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Nadine Schaeffer
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009
4:53 PM
To: santacr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Geek Friendly Cafe
Now if only NextSpace had an espresso machine .... (hint hint).
- Nadine
You know, the simplest solution would be a sign. Something like:
Table fair use policy:
Please share table space. You’re welcome to stay for a
short time, but don’t stay all day. It’s just not fair.
-ms
From: santacr...@googlegroups.com [mailto:santacr...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Andrew Mueller
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 3:49 PM
To: santacr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Geek Friendly Cafe
Limiting time by blocking power is an unfair solution in that it gives preference to those with power efficient processors and larger batteries. Many folks with some Macs and large batteries can still work 4, 6 or more hours. What about students who studying for hours and hours at a time. A true equitable and fair solution would need to be based on limiting "table time" based on purchase event regardless of the activity a patron takes part in.
Andrew,
But if you spend $10 and your there for 3 hours, and you prevent 3 people from each spending their $10 and staying an hour each, then you’re hurting business.
Personally, when I bring my laptop to a coffee house, and later I see people come in and all of the tables are full, I’ll get up and give my table to the new customer. For me, when all of the tables are full, it’s time for me to go for a walk.
But that’s just me.
-ms
From: santacr...@googlegroups.com [mailto:santacr...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Andrew Mueller
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 9:23 PM
To: santacr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Geek Friendly Cafe
Ruby, are you saying that preference should be given to someone who wants to "chill out in there w/a cup of coffee" over someone who wants to chill out in there w/a cup of coffee and a computer in front of them?
Limiting time by blocking power is an unfair solution in that it gives preference to those with power efficient processors and larger batteries. Many folks with some Macs and large batteries can still work 4, 6 or more hours. What about students who studying for hours and hours at a time. A true equitable and fair solution would need to be based on limiting "table time" based on purchase event regardless of the activity a patron takes part in.
This is actually a widespread phenomenon. The Wall Street Journal ran
an article on it last month:
No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950421033208823.html
That article speculates that the recession is leading to unemployed
people using the coffee shop as an office substitute, with increased
camping, and decreased spending.
> While I am sure it has
> little effect on those with energy efficient processors or bigger
> batteries, this is particularly painful for me as my computer battery
> last only about an hour in power saver mode.
If your laptop is over a year old, consider treating yourself to a new
battery. It's possible for laptop battery to lose half its capacity
in a little over a year, if it is subject to constant charge/discharge
cycles.
--
John Brewer
> But, does it not seem rude to complain that you
> can't sit in Lulu's for more than 2hrs (I'm guessing the average lifespan of
> most laptops)?
Perhaps my own usage pattern is more unusual, but any lack of AC puts
a cramp in my style. I solved the free wifi problem by going with a
mobile broadband solution now. So, for the most part, I can skip the
cafe wireless if it has problems or is restrictive. But the lack of
power is crucial. I may go by a cafe for just an hour or so in the
midst of a day where I am working 4+ hours away from reliable power.
Having to draw on my battery when there *should* be power is a PITA.
I often hit a cafe for less than an hour, but gravitate toward places
that have easy to obtain power.
Another person mentioned that the Octagon is clearly designed with
laptop users in mind. Small tables barely big enough for two with
multiple power outlets at reach. I don't know Lulu's problems with
OSHA, but I do know that each location has had outlets that should
have been fined ...
I guess I agree most closely with Andrew. I agree that Manthri has
the right to change his business model. He is doing it by dissing his
long time customers who have grown his business. I wish him luck with
that model, other businesses haven't done as well with such actions.
I think he would have done better if he had engaged with his customers
for solutions. Myself, I'll likely take my business elsewhere, with
the rare exception of when my family wants to be there.
I thought the idea of forcing customers to bother busy baristas for
wifi passwords was stupid. Also, consider that the Octagon (for
example) always seems to have a line, etc. I'm wondering how much of
the problem is perception? It *feels* as if there is a problem, all
these people you see for hours, etc. Is it really a problem? I guess
they'll find out now ...
BTW, I'll note that in addition to the libarary (not a food-friendly
location), the City Hall across the street also has free wireless. I
work from there with my girls sometimes, them working on their
homeschoolwork or just climbing trees. (An example of when I have no
power and why I want to save my batteries when at a cafe.)
More geek friendly cafes - Firefly, SubRosa (at The Hub - Pacific &
Spruce), Pergolesi, West Side Coffee Co. (Mission & Almar). I tired
Bad Ass Coffee on Pacific one time; looks like there is a Java
Junction on River by Hwy 1. Myself, I'll probably hit Firefly more
often now -- I would rather give them my business and hope they are
able to keep open. Spread the word and spread the dollars. :)
- Karsten
--
Karsten Wade -- gpg key : AD0E0C41 -- http://iquaid.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
Next underground restaurant
-:- Stay tuned ... -:-
http://Fairy-TaleFarm.com
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Alan, thanks for that.I feel this is an extremely mature and intelligent response, and I respect Manthri for that, as well as for the clarity of vision with which he is pursuing his goals.