Straight Edge Life

You have to protect what you love. Whether it’s your sense of place, your home, your family, or your passions…

There’s a woman with an s+m collar on at the counter talking to the dreadlocked barrista dude on the other side. There’s a mexican guy sitting at the table next to me reading the paper and a small green book. I just watched two gorgeous young women talk and laugh gracefully with each other for 15 minutes across the way. There’s a guy with a greasy adidas hat, hooded sweatshirt, hammer-loop jeans, and rings on his fingers eating a burrito like it was the first thing he’s eaten in three days. His watch, it’s distractingly shiny. There’s a guy with an iBook sitting in the corner watching it all go by around him. His knees are popping up and down with the beat of the music on his headphones. “I Will Survive” remake by cake. I can here it from here. There’s an array of watercolor paintings by a local artist on the walls. There’s a guy that looks like Paul Bunyon who I see dancing to reggae at the WOW hall buying coffee, talking to a lady with some seriously impressive mountain boots on. A woman with a worn face and hooded sweatshirt walks by a few feet outside the window. Our eyes meet for a split second. Near the window the air is cold and the music is bad. There’s a sense of privacy here. There’s a sense of place here as well.

This is Eugene. Come here a few days in a row and you’ll see familiar faces everywhere. The guy with the adidas hat, with the very tailored gas station attendant look, he’s been in here before. I’ve seen him around. Never anywhere but here, but it still counts. I’ve run into more friends here, had more time all alone, and enjoyed meeting new people more here than any other single place in Eugene.

The patrons of Allan Brothers are from this town, they aren’t passing through and they aren’t about to invite anyone to come live here either. Oregonians. They know what they like and they keep it damn well to themselves. Even I, a californian / import to the moss-on-all-sides-of-the-tree state, I’m not about to tell people how cool this place is. Anyone I invite to Oregon, I invite during the winter or spring; when it rains the most. When you have everything you need it pays to be active about keeping it that way. This place, Eugene, Allan Brothers, Oregon, it’s not about efficiency. It’s not about profit and growth. It’s about taking the time to do it your way, to do it right. So don’t you dare come to a place like Allan Brothers in Oregon and rush through. Spend some time. Sit down and watch the people around you. Meet someone new. Wait until you see someone more than once. That’s when Allan Brother’s it at it’s best. I can’t speak for the coffee, I don’t drink it. But the cocoa is good and the atmosphere is 100% Eugene. There are a number of places like this in Eugene. Maybe someday I’ll tell you about the others. Then again, maybe not. Maybe you’ll have to find the for yourself.