If you're one of those artsy bohemians who relish their green Chai tea, prepare yourself for unrequited melancholy.
Gold Bar coffee shop, a favorite hang out of those ever-ready-to-launch-into-political-debate-over-a-steamy-cup-of-hot-mocha-latte, is about to follow in the footsteps of so many mom-and-pops of yore and succumb to business that is bigger and more powerful.
Sitting on the corner of Southern and McClintock, the eight-year-old institution has been a favorite spot for those who enjoy chilling to the sounds of nightly live music while munching on any of the Bar's great array of pastries. But the sounds of silence are descending, and the munching will soon be no more — the Gold Bar is about to close for good.
Word on the street is the Bar's landlord is not renewing the lease (which is up this summer) so his son can take the space over and start his own coffee shop. This underhanded business deal flagrantly runs against the coffee-shop notion of community, sharing and openness.
The shop resembles a grandma's attic, with stained glass windows and an antique piano in the corner. In a different life, the building was a bank. The un-coffee shop like interior with its high ceilings and teller counters contributes to its uniqueness. The imaginative minds that run the Bar have converted the former money vault in the back into a cozy lounge that feels like a 20s speakeasy.
But despite the energetic and creative types that frequent the Bar, the mood lately has been uncharacteristically somber.
The clerks at the counter chat with customers now and then about maybe looking for a new location, but the tone is doubtful and nothing is concrete, as if they are waiting for some miracle to intervene and they won't have to move after all. We are secretly hoping the same.
A petition is set next to the register asking patrons to pledge their allegiance to the Bar and boycott the future coffee shop that is kicking them out. It is unlikely that this last breath of hope will make any difference, though.
When we at the State Press found out that the Gold Bar was closing, State Press Magazine editor Ashlea Deahl reminisced about the times she and former managing editor Justin Doom spent sipping coffee and playing chess late into the night. They don't do much of that anymore, Ashlea is busy planning her move to a newspaper in Massachusetts, and Doom works pretty much fulltime at Diamondbacks Magazine.
Perhaps coffee shops are wayward and transient just like the rest of our college bunch here — we all want the fun to last forever, but, alas, it can't.
We all have to grow and evolve and mold to changing environments, you who are graduating in less than a month we know can agree.
On the Bar's drive-up window there is a message posted; it reads, "As of this coming June either Gold Bar relocates or expires …"
All of us together define Gold Bar. As we go along our "Road of Life" let's look with a creative eye and picture Gold Bar still providing our daily elixirs far into the future.
We express our sadness for those of you who know and love Gold Bar; we sympathize with the loss. And for those of you who don't know it yet, get out there and experience it before it's gone. The Chai tea beats the band.
