About The Old Coffee Shop- A Rambling

In 1996, there used to be the best little coffee shop by my house, I can’t even remember it’s name now,  but I would drive over there, and they made the best vegetarian sandwich. It was lettuce, and avocado, and sprouts, and I don't know what else. And it was so good, and if I could afford it, I would get the sandwich. And if not, I would just get a coffee, and I would go upstairs in that old wooden building, and I would write poetry upstairs while I drank my coffee. I can't remember what I would get, but it was strong. I think it was espresso. They just had regular coffee and espresso. And I would sip my espresso or my coffee and just write poetry upstairs in that old cafe. It used to be one of my favorite spots in the whole world, and i just stopped going. I don't know what happened to that cafe, and wonder if it’s somehow still there or if it closed down decades ago. I’ve driven by it several times since and thought about dropping in, but I like the way the memories of that shop are preserved in my mind and I want to remember it just the way it was. 

Beverly Hills 90210 and Cafe Au Lait

 

        

     I’ve been going through quite a nostalgic period of my life right now, and because of that I’m revisiting movies and music from my childhood. One of the shows I was totally committed to in the early nineties was Beverly Hills 90210. I watched it from the beginning all the way up to season 6. I was a big fan back then and I’m really enjoying the rewatch.

     On one of the episodes, Kelly, Donna, and Brenda are in a coffee house on a comedy night- or it’s a coffee house/comedyclub I’m not completely sure- and Donna orders a cafe au lait. I was surprised that’s not something I see being ordered at coffee shops in current times, and I was interested in what exactly it was. I’ve worked in cafes and I’ve been a coffee drinker for a really long time and I think I’ve heard of it but I didn’t know what went into it or how to actually make one. So…I went online and I was researching it and I made one because I was very curious. 

     The cafe au lait has become a new morning routine with me, I really enjoy the creaminess and balance of the flavor. It Reminds me of cappuccino yet it’s so much simpler to make and that works well for me since I don’t have an espresso machine. 

     It’s just so easy, just coffee and milk. It’s a half a cup of coffee and the rest is warmed milk. I’ve heard that you could steam the milk but it seems pretty controversial on whether or not you can steam the milk in a cafe au lait or if that makes it something else,  but I’ll tell you the way I make it at home.

     First, I use a big gigantic coffee mug so I can still get a good amount of coffee in this drink. Next, I microwave milk for about a minute so I’m careful not to scald it … just to get it warm. While the milk is warming up I pour half a cup of strong coffee and add a teaspoon of sweetener to this. Then I add the warm warm milk on top of it and I give it a stir and I put a little tiny bit of cinnamon on top more for the aroma more than the flavor of it. 

     This has become just the coziest little morning ritual for me and I just it kind of feels like I’m spoiling myself with something really simple and affordable and accessible to me so this is my new thing and has replaced my morning iced coffees… at least for now. 

     

     Anyways, That’s how I do so I thought I would share with you guys. It’s just a little something interesting and I haven’t really been sharing a lot lately and it’s just been a really busy year. We had a graduation we had a wildfire. I don’t really know what I’ve been doing with my time, but I feel like I’ve just been playing catch up all year. But here I am now, stopping in, and hopefully I will be adding more soon. 

Review: The Crow: Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z. Brite

This book was an enjoyable read. The characters were unique and intriguing. The setting, a hurricane ravaged New Orleans, added an atmospheric layer to the story, perfectly complementing its dark tone.

While this felt more like a thriller than a mystery, it leaned into gruesome, almost gory territory. Though not my favorite work by Poppy Z. Brite, it was still a solid and compelling addition to their repertoire. Fans of dark, visceral storytelling will likely enjoy it.

*aiassisted

The Crow 30th anniversary showing

     Watching the 30th anniversary showing of The Crow at the Regal Theatre this year, was a nostalgic experience that brought me back to my teenage years. I went with my husband, and it was such a thrill to finally see this film on the big screen. When The Crow originally came out, I was only 14, and since it was rated R, I missed out on seeing it in theaters. I still remember saving up my money to buy the VHS, and once I had it, I watched it over and over.

     I absolutely loved everything about The Crow when I was younger. The dark, brooding atmosphere and, of course, the music. It was through this movie that I discovered bands like Nine Inch Nails and The Cure, which became a huge part of my life. Hearing that iconic soundtrack again, this time in a theater, was like stepping into a time machine. The music still hits hard, and the story of vengeance and love lost felt just as powerful as it did the first time I watched it.

     It was also a great experience to see so many others at the theater who were clearly long-time fans like me. The place was filled with goths, metalheads, and others with a love for all things dark and alternative, most of them around my age. It was like a mini-reunion of people who had grown up with The Crow as part of their lives. There was something really special about being surrounded by that energy, and it made me so happy to share this moment with others who felt the same way.

     I’m grateful I had the chance to see The Crow in all its gritty, gothic glory on the big screen. It brought back so many memories, and the film still holds up, both the story and the music. It was an experience I won’t forget.

*AI assisted content *AI generated art

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite Review

Wow! This book is incredible. I am immediately adding this to my top ten favorite books list. 

So let me just start by saying that I tried to read this book as a teenager in the nineties and I just could not get through it. This book is vulgar and obscene and would probably offend a large portion of society. It’s no wonder that as a young woman who was always looking for the beauty in everything I found this book a little too extreme for my liking. 

Now, as a woman in her forties,  I found it a little more tolerable to read…. I actually really liked it. I thought the story was so interesting and nostalgic. There was not a character that I came across in this story that I did not instantly want to know more about. The author’s descriptions and details of the club scene and the gothic club kids really took me back to an era long ago. I remembered so many of these little details as I read this book and wondered how many of these things I had encountered because this book existed first and was later copied by the people and places I spent my time with in those days. 

There are some definite areas of the book that I think were put in for shock value and I recognized them and accepted them as that but overall this book was just so entrancing. I could not wait to see the date of every character and was not disappointed by the ending. I wish the author had made a sequel but that just wasn’t in the cards for this particular novel. 

Love Love Love . 

I was a teenage “mall goth”

  

The term "mall goth" is used to describe  those who dressed in a specific edgy and alternative way in the nineties. -my friends and I were definitely alternative teens-There was a bunch of us and we mostly listened to goth , industrial metal or "nu-metal". We did not use the term "mall goth" at all back then, and definitely not to describe ourselves. Most of my friends and myself would try to avoid any and all labels and definitely did not associate ourselves as any kind of subculture like "goth"or "industrial" even though we listened to these kinds of music. Looking back I think that I was part of what would have been considered a part of the  "mall goth " subculture. 

Finding info on anything alternative was a lot harder in the nineties. The internet was really different. You had to know websites and addresses to get anywhere so although you could find fan sites or music themed AOL chat rooms most of what you learned about industrial metal and goth subculture came from word of mouth. Either friends who were more knowledgeable or from adults who had been/still were involved in the movement. 

Although I've heard that there was magazines that were focused on the industrial and goth movement, My friends and I really didn't have access to those. If we wanted to learn about bands we were kinda stuck with documentaries and popup video on VH1, MTV, or current industrial metal bands in magazines like Rolling Stone and Spin.

Most of us were buying the new goth music that was being released at the time from more mainstream  bands like The Cure or Depeche Mode but we were also buying industrial metal music like Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie and those of us did listen to the older or more obscure goth music from the 80s would have to find those cassettes in the used section of the music store.

We mostly found clothes at Hot Topic because it was so easily accessible. There were other places were we might find some cool dark or gothic looking stuff. Melrose Ave. always had cool stuff and so did a shop called The Electric Chair in Huntington Beach. People really didn't shop online at this time so most clothes were bought in person. Thrift stores were a great place to find cheap clothes that looked old and mysterious. Mostly,  my friends and I tried to look like modern edgy vampires. the girls wore long dark skirts, slips layered together, pants, and dresses usually in black or burgundy and flowy blouses, band shirts or edgy tops from hot topic. We would wear capes, cloaks or coats as outerwear. Collar necklaces were a must. Some of us dyed our hair Bright Red or Black and we wore lipsticks in red or black with heavy eyeliner. The guys wore dark pants or cords in black or burgundy and also would wear silky flowy shirts (oftentimes the guys would find their clothes in the women's department). Dark Jackets or Hoodies and goatees with long hair dyed black. Also sometimes top hats for special occasions and sunglasses (think Gary Oldman in Bram Stokers Dracula). There was Lots of velvet, leather, pleather, and Lace on the clothes for both men and women. Everyone wore 20 eye doc martins or combat boots, fishnets, striped knee socks, eyeliner, black or blue nail polish leather cuffs and silver jewelry. 

Since there was not a lot of all ages clubs that played goth or industrial metal music we would hang out at a few gothic looking coffee houses like The Bourgeois Pig and No Future Cafe. 

No Future was a coffee house that opened every Friday night and was an all ages punk venue with live bands. There were different genres that would play there and if we were lucky we would get to see one of the dark wave/ ethereal wave/metal rock bands. 

As I got older, we would hang out at the midnight showing of the rocky horror picture show and a Los Angeles club called Club 80s.  There was an awesome "Dark Wave" room at club 80s.

Club 80s was such a fun place. It was really a place that you could just enjoy the music you liked and dance however you wanted with no judgement. I saw so many beautiful dance moves there and heard so much great music from the 80s. Not everyone "dressed" for the club and it was really just a magical place to be yourself . Looking back club 80s was great because it wasn't an "official" goth club so the focus was really on the music and not the fashion.

For me, it was all about romance, discovery, emotion, the freedom to express yourself and be free however that looked to you.

"If tonight lasts forever, It won't matter if there's no tomorrow"- Marilyn Manson

 

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