Tantra Coffeehouse

If you’re looking for the sort of coffee shop frequented by the tree-hugging crowd, at the onset Tantra fits the bill. There’s the Odwalla juice case, the extensive and thought-provoking wall mural (even if the only thought it provokes is “what am I looking at?”), the posters for things like “The Awakening” conference series and Celtic Spirits Worldwide, designated receptacles for recycling and books with titles such as The Buddha of Suburbia. It’s everything you might expect to find.

What’s more interesting though are the things you might not expect. For instance, The Buddha of Suburbia was nestled against Michael Crichton. I saw more than one copy of The New York Times lying around, and not all with the same headline. While sitting outside, I overhead an extensive conversation about football between four male patrons, at least two of whom were drinking beer. There was also a poster for the Unicycle Football League with a schedule of games to be held onsite.

There is fuel at Tantra for various beats. I might do a story about the blending of subversive and mainstream cultures in places such as Tantra, where I found, for example, both a copy of What to Expect Toddler Years and a posted advertisement for midwife training. I could also definitely see a story, maybe a sports feature, about the Unicycle Football League. Other miscellaneous ideas are stories on the artist whose work was displayed and priced for sale, owning a local business during the current economic crisis and running a green restaurant.