My last blog entry about coffeehouses brought me a rebuke. When I wrote that Chico has no new coffeehouses, a reader let me know that Beatniks Coffee House has opened at the site of Market Cafe and its predecessor, Bean Scene.

This is a great spot for a coffeehouse. It's right off the freeway, has plenty of parking and is close to the Chico Police Station and the Chico Unified School District offices. I don't understand why the last two coffeehouses couldn't make a go of it.

Owner Mike Huber says half the former space will be occupied by another tenant, but Beatniks has the side with the kitchen, which will soon remodeled so that it can offer a more substantial menu than typical coffeehouse fare.

Beatniks pays tribute to beat culture. Photos of Jack Kerouac decorate the walls. There's a poster for the San Francisco Beat Museum that mentions Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." On a chalk board next to where the coffee is made is a Kerouac quote: Enlightenment is: do what you want. Eat what is there." This is followed by an announcement that Beatniks will soon be serving breakfast and lunch.  

The coffeehouse also pays tribute to beatnik culture, the movement that made fun of beat culture. I hope to see some photos of Maynard G. Krebs (the G., which is silent, stands for Walter) alongside Kerouac. Maynard, "The Loves of Dobie Gillis" TV show character, who was played by Bob Denver, is the most popular beatnik of all time. Menus on the tables mention Maynard and give other facts about beat and beatnik culture.

I'd like to see some beatnik-type lyrics grace the chalk boards at Beatniks Coffee House, like the ones that close the song "Alley Oop," the 1960 hit by the Hollywood Argyles: "Look at that caveman go. He sure is hip, ain't he. Like what's happening. He's too much. Ride, Daddy, ride. Hi-yo dinosawruh, Get 'em, man. Like -- hipsville."

I'm still waiting for some beatnik-style coffeehouse to call itself Sugar Shack, based on the 1963 hit song of that title by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireflies. Sugar Shack's a "crazy little shack beyond the tracks," which is "made out of wood," where "expresso (sic) coffee tastes mighty good." Working there is "a cute little girlie" with a "black leotard and her feet are bare."

If you were a beatnik "girlie," you had to go around in black leotards and wear your hair long and straight. If you were a beatnik guy, you had to wear a goatee and play bongo drums. You went to coffeehouses and either listened to jazz, while snapping your fingers and bobbing your head, or sat in a corner and wrote ponderous stream-of-consciousness free verse poetry.

The beauty of coffeehouses is that they are both a stereotype and the real deal. The coffeehouses that surrounded Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights bookstore in North Beach in San Francisco were where beat writers and other artists hung out.

I look forward to Beatniks Coffee House playing up both sides of this mid-20th century cultural phenomenon.

I have some more coffeehouse news for all you hep cats out there. I'm probably the last person in Chico to find this out, but Cafe Flo has new owners. I stopped by there a couple of weeks ago. It had been a while since my last visit. I could see that some things had changed. The furniture had been rearranged and the floor had been stained a darker color. The real giveaway was that new people were serving the coffee. I talked to Monikah Niemczynowicz, one of the new owners. She and her husband bought Cafe Flo in September. She said they plan to carry a number of local products.

Tin Roof Bakery will be opening a bakery and cofeehouse right in the middle of hipsville, just south of downtown, in a neighborhood I call SoDo. It will be at the northeast corner of Broadway and Seventh streets in the former quarters of Urban Roost. Several years ago, I did an interview with Tin Roof Bakery owner Brandon Siewert for a story in the E-R style section. He mentioned then that he'd like to open a retail outlet for his bakery.  

Jumpstart Espresso, which was in C & M Automotive's waiting room, has closed. The space will be used for a tire showroom. I will miss the coffee and breakfast burritos, but look forward to being able to buy my tires  at C & M. In fact, I have already bought two tires there.