Desolate Highway Cafe - 387 W Wantage Street
The closest equivalent to a headquarters for New Jerusalem’s tiny demimonde, the Desolate Highway Café is a haven for writers, poets, poseurs, hangers on, etc. The food is of good quality for a price only slightly higher than your average diner — you are charged by the cup for coffee however! The odds are much greater your meal might be interrupted by an impromptu reading of some budding poet’s verse here than at any of New Jerusalem’s other dining options.
University intellectuals, emigres, the smart set, bohemians, and beatniks with money like the tasty French country-style cooking. The owners, Reid Vandervelden and his partner Josh (who also happen to be lovers), occasionally sponsor exhibits or readings, but the attraction here is conversation, posturing, and flirting. Criminals will be bored.
Years ago Andrew Pitman Derby often read his poetry to acquaintances here, and Derby's friend Justin Geoffrey once delivered People of the Monolith to a table of listeners following his return from Hungary, shortly before he went mad.
There is a chess board available, though few but immigrants play the game. The wide selection of current newspapers is of more interest. A few frequenters have access to opium or marijuana. Customers known to the management can have wine served surreptitiously with their meals. Open 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday.
Type
Cafe / Tearoom
Parent Location
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