Someday Café story in today's Globe

[ron_newman]

It's on page B1, and even on Boston.com's front page right now:

In Somerville, Someday may be a memory.
Subtitle: "Regulars at the coffee shop in Davis Square express outrage"

Comments

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but: boo hoo.

I haven't commented yet, but I've been in Someday exactly once. I was driven out by the music, which was opressively loud.

I did get drinks to go a few times, to be consumed while watching movies...I'll kind of miss that, but not enough.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Jeez, that article reads like it's from the Herald. Hyperbole much? I want to know who said Someday is "More than a coffee shop...a place of healing." I'm sorry, but whatEVER. And I wonder who it is who will "move out of Somerville" if the Someday goes.

I'm not bitching about the Someday, but about the journalistic style. I'm more concerned about the Globe after see in that.

[spettacolo.livejournal.com]

It's not hyperbole by the author. Those were mostly direct quotes from the Davis Square Task Force Meeting.

Before the Someday haters arrive and the pile-on begins, could everyone please understand that to a lot of people (perhaps thousands) the loss of the Someday Cafe really IS a big deal. Many patrons (myself included) have been frequenting the place for 10+ years. Whether you like it or not, The Someday helped make Davis Square what it is today.

Yes the place had gotten grungy. Yes the music was (sometimes) too loud. Get over it. If that's all you have to add to the discussion, why are you wasting your time?

Ron, thanks for pointing out the article.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

It's not just the quotes--the article is painfully overwritten. The quotes are sometimes just pathetic though :)

I do love Someday and will likely avoid Mr. Crepe, but seriously. The fact that so many folks remember when Someday first opened shows that it's hardly of landmark/institution status, and Davis has already genteeled itself to the point that Someday seemed out of place.

However, if Sacco's ever leaves, there will be hell to pay.

[nalz.livejournal.com]

Because they have an opinion and feel a certain way? Why is their opinion any less valid than your own?

I am sorry that you fel so strongly over the cafe's closing..it doesn't really mean much to me either way.

[spettacolo.livejournal.com]

Your opinion is not less valid than mine. I didn't say it was.

I just wonder why so many people feel the need to be dicky and negative on every fecking community message board. If this topic "doesn't mean much to you either way" why bother posting? And the above comment (not yours) "boo hoo" doesn't add anything but negativity.

I guess that's just the nature of the web. I wish people could just be a bit more respectful.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Because 'doesn't mean much either way' is STILL a valid opinion. There are people like you who are going to be somewhere between sad, angry, and apparently devastated if we're to believe the article. There are going to be people who don't care much either way. There are going to be people who are happy for various reasons.

Do you get that people, including me, were devastated when Mr. Crepe left the square? We get what you're feeling, please don't invalidate others opinions by asking them why they bother to post them. They bother to post them because they're being honest and there is room for that.

[syntheticnature.livejournal.com]

Here's the (briefer) article from the Herald: Someday cafe has no place to stay: An eclectic java joint loses lease (http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=146412)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

From the perspective of my patronage, I don't care much about either Someday or Mr. Crepe. I was sad on behalf of my friends when Mr. Crepe closed, but it's not entirely comparable because that was done above-board. I am sad for Someday on behalf of others as well, plus the whole "end of an era" thing, but whether or not Gus "really wanted" to leave, and irrespective of the business in question, the way Fraiman handled it pisses me off. Based on his own words, it sounds like he played everyone but just doesn't want to admit it. Long-time grudge? I dunno. But I can understand how the circumstances make this more painful than Mr. Crepe's departure.

Mr. Crepe better keep a close eye on his paperwork, is all I can say.

[cutieperson]

Mr. Crepe better keep a close eye on his paperwork, is all I can say.

shouldn't this be the responsibility of the business anyhow? there are all sorts of deadlines you have to pay attention to; why should the lease be any different?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Sure, but that doesn't change my observation that Fraiman behaved poorly. I know when my lease is up, but the landlord still sends mail three months beforehand asking if we want to renew. Fraiman did not make a single call to ask Gus, but did take the time to talk to Mr. Crepe. He also never disagreed with Gus' statement that in all his years, the landlord always calls. If it has been that way between them, then Fraiman knew perfectly well that Gus wouldn't call and purposely did not contact him because he wanted him out. Heck, even now, he still has the option of renewing with Gus but just doesn't want to. I just don't understand why he can't be above-board about the whole thing.

In short, I haven't seen Fraiman say a word to contradict the idea that he played the whole thing. I feel sorry for Mr. Crepe, who I assume didn't know there was underhanded behavior going on. But either way, I figure Mr. Crepe will do fine and the whole thing will blow over and be forgotten, until Fraiman tries to screw yet another tenant.

[shinxy.livejournal.com]

Between Diesel and Someday, Someday was always my favorite. Good coffee, good atmosphere, good clientelle, and it never attempted to be slick and hip the way Diesel is. Given, Diesel has pool, which is nice, but so does Sacco's. On nice days at Someday, I'd get coffee and within 15 minutes a friend would walk in the door, by chance. It felt like hanging out in a friend's living room. To me, it was one of the cornerstones of Davis life, and I doubt it will ever be replaced.

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

Curious. Would your attitude be the same if this was some coffee shop in some other city with an equally attached history but a place you'd never heard of? Journalistically, anyway. The article reads fine to me.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Wow, Fraiman really comes off as a dick in that one. Interesting seeing the different spins in various articles.

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

It was nice to read that the Someday owner would consider re-opening somewhere else in the square. I wonder if there are any suitable locations? I imagine it's gotta be hard to find just the right space and then to have it be already zoned for food as well.

Coffee shops seem to be a great type of business for Davis Sqare since there's not a ton of parking here and it's not the kind of business you need to drive to and park at in order to patronize the business.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

"I was sad on behalf of my friends when Mr. Crepe closed, but it's not entirely comparable because that was done above-board."

whoa, what? I agree that the situations aren't comparable-- but they're not comparable because the owners of Dave's Fresh Pasta refused to re-sign Mr. Crepe's lease and forced him out because they wanted to expand their own business, which is not at all the case with the Someday Cafe.

[ron_newman]

The former beauty salon next to Antonia's, right on the plaza, would be ideal. However, someone told me that Antonia's has "already spoken for it" in order to expand. Don't know if that's true.

[ron_newman]

I don't know who said Someday is a "place of healing" during Wednesday's DSTF meeting, but I quite definitely remember someone using those exact words. The reporter simply quoted what she heard.

I did not hear anyone saying s/he would "move out of Somerville". That doesn't mean nobody said it; I did not take written notes at the meeting.

[siderea]

Mr. Crepe better keep a close eye on his paperwork, is all I can say.

What I don't get is why the Mr. Crepe owner hasn't run screaming from doing business with Fraiman by now. If I knew that someone my business would be having rely on had pulled a stunt like that, I wouldn't be signing any contract with him!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* If we disagree on something here, I don't know what it is.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I'd guess it's because he REALLY wants to re-open here. He's already been blocked from moving into one (maybe two?) other spaces, after all. This might be his least favorite choice, but if it's the only one left, then that's that.

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

I love Antonias and hope they expand. Imagine with the CVS coming that Store "fugly" 24 was replaced by a relocated and cleaned up Someday.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

a friend in law school said that this seemed really fishy to her. unless there's something specifically in the lease stating that the lease *won't* be renewed at the end of it without notification, it usually takes notification to make the lease end. even with something like that in the lease, the landlord has an obligation to notify the tenant that they didn't specifically mention intent to renew - not just kick them out.

have they got lawyers working on it? the article i read was unclear on that (though i haven't yet read this one).

teeter over to Starbucks

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I had no idea the davis_square list was so geriatric. "Kids today, their music is so loud and they look so sloppy. Why do you have to play your music so loud?" The comments sounds like my grandmother and her sister talking (and *I'm* almost 40).

Personally I never found the music too loud, or the decor to déclassé for my middle-class tastes. Someday to me is a welcome, comfortable relief to the rampant gentrification.

As for the staff, after Gus bought the place I have never once had a single person behind he counter ever be anything less than 100% pleasant and friendly to me.

And daaa-mn their coffee is good!

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

In what sense of aesthetics is a CVS less "fugly" than a Store 24? I'm imagining it and it's a depressing, bland, uniform corporate vision.

"Not sterile" is not the same as "Dirty," neither is "Non-uniform" nor
"Idiosyncratic."

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

I never said CVS wasn't ugly. CVS, as far as I know is definite so there is little that can be done to get rid of them.
Store 24 on the other hand is ugly from the outside and I'd simply love to see it replaced by a new coffee store, is all.

Re: teeter over to Starbucks

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

I thought that the restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people done with relative taste, as it has been done in Davis, would imply that gentrification was a good thing. I mean without gentrification, we'd all be sitting in burger kings looking at tough guys hanging around bars.
It seems it's hip to be anti-gentrification without realizing the Davis we all know and love would not be so without some level of that maligned endeavor.

Re: teeter over to Starbucks

[jellobiafrascat.livejournal.com]

CLASSISM IS AWESOME!! WOOO!!! ALL POOR PEOPLE APPARENTLY LOVE BURGER KING AND HANG OUT AT TOUGH GUY BARS!!!! LET'S JUST PUT THEM ALL IN CAMPS AND KEEP THEM OUT OF THE WAY OF RICH, WHITE, "AFFLUENT" FREE-THINKERS!

(this post is brought to you by the Sarcastic Citizens Campaign)


and not in response to this super awesome grade a guy's post...

I like the person who was asking what they will all do once the Someday goes. I don't know... ride a bike? Take a walk? Go sit by the Charles and write on your laptop? Visit Friends and Family? Find cool new places to hangout? Volunteer? Attend Church? Write a novel? Make a movie? Have sex? Draw? Paint? Take photos? Go on a hike? Plan a vacation? Get a job? Walk your dog and feed your cat? Go to the library on rainy days? Go sledding on snowy days? Skip rocks at Walden Pond? Protest? Start a band?

I could keep going.

I'm sad the Someday is leaving too, for the sake of the employees who got seriously screwed by this (I've been in their shoes), but for all the people who are so completely distraught by this place going away, there's a whole world of stuff to do with your free time.

Re: teeter over to Starbucks

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's true. You are right to call me on over-simplifying a very complicated topic. I don't think "gentrification" is any more always bad, nor always good than, say for instance, rain is. Too little, you have drought, water-shortages, dead plants the roots of which can no longer hold the soil, and the eventual rain causes water run-off and flooding; too much rain and you have weakened root systems, trees that cant hold the wet ground and are felled in a storm, and more flooding.

I'm all for well managed urban development and improvements. I guess I usually apply the term "gentrification" as a pejorative, when it seems that the development is too much or too drastic to the point of flooding the environment and destroying the root system of the community that the goal is to develop. When businesses that have been a strong part of a community for many years are pushed out to make room for a new business with quieter music, cleaner furniture, and more acceptable workers and clientele... well, I think the baby is going down the drain with the bathwater.

You're right, completely, that being knee-jerk anti-"gentrification" is just as shallow, and ultimately un-useful, as being knee-jerk pro-"progress."

[ron_newman]

I don't want to see Store 24 disappear. It sells much more food than a CVS would.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I think that it'd be cool if the Someday found a way to open up somewhere else in the square, and just maybe took some of the criticism (expressed here and elsewhere) to heart. I remember when they opened, and even though I'm disappointed with what they turned into, I think there's clearly room for rebirth.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

And if we get rid of all those distastefully low-class places where the nasty "vagrants" and smelly people all hang out, they magically won't be poor, underprivileged, and in need of help or a place to duck out of the heat/cold any more!

No, wait, they still will... we just won't have to see them. Oh well, I guess that's good enough for Davis Square!

[cleanup-davissq.livejournal.com]

now you're talkin'!!