Falling In Love All Over Again With Avenue Eatery On West Broadway...

Photo, blog post by John Hoff

Is "love" too strong a word to describe a corner coffee and sandwich shop which, as documented by numerous media entities, has seen its share of ups, downs, and then up again?

No, "love" is not too strong a word. Not when this coffee shop possesses the first paperless receipt right-to-my-email system that I've laid eyes upon outside of (I think it was) Office Max. Not when I ask for a chai frap and the dude behind the counter (not even wearing a hoodie like what happened there a few years ago) says it's not on the menu, but he'll try to make it; and he not only succeeds but says there's enough "leftovers" for free seconds.

Not when the sign on the door advertises free WiFi. Oh, sure, the signal was crowded by a bunch of young people who appeared to be doing their homework but I'll take young people doing homework anytime over listless, glassy-eyed no accounts paying too much attention to the street traffic right outside. (Olympic Cafe, cough cough)

While taking the photo above, I mentioned to the clerk how the old Avenue Eatery location had plastic cups made from biodegradable corn starch polymer, and how cool was THAT? And a place so proud of its paperless system (they were obviously proud) would probably do well to at least look into that kind of biodegradable plastic cup, right?

Avenue Eatery is doing something right. I hope this place hangs on.

Keep up the good work, folks. 

City County Federal Credit Union...A Scary ATM Location On West Broadway

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

First of all, City County Federal Credit Union at 1101 West Broadway Ave. deserves kudos for taking a bit of a risk and opening a branch office in a freshly-renovated building. I hear it's a great place to bank, though by force of habit I stick with TCF. However, one of my friends who banks there swears she will never use the ATM without somebody else backing her up and looking over her shoulder.

A couple nights ago my friend...

...asked me to get out of the car and withdraw money for her, since the night was especially dark and scary. While I was at the ATM, wouldn't you know it...some guy walked up and stopped about fifteen feet away, giving me a little head jerk and a meaningful look. I know that look. It's the "Let's Make A Deal" look.

I calmly withdrew the money, got in my friend's car...and the guy walked away.

Clearly, he wasn't there to wait in line to use the ATM himself, since he walked the other way. No, I figure it was probably somebody trying to sell dope. The ATM location at 1101 West Broadway is great for that kind of thing...go there and withdraw money, and soon enough somebody see if you want to spend that money on the spot. A massive area of West Broadway is hostage to the dope dealing and lawlessness which emanates like swamp gas from Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall and the crappy buildings across the street on the "900" block. Even 1101 West Broadway is in that shadow of lawlessness, though it's two blocks away.

So that night I made yet another 911 call. Sigh. It used to be more fun to make 911 calls, and now it's as routine and tedious as flushing the toilet. But, geez, you still have to flush.