WiFi and Internet take over the social scene at coffeehouses

By Catherine Spearnak/SDUN Reporter

On a hot Sunday during the Adams Avenue Street Fair, Janet Shih is virtually the only soul in the comfortable LeStat’s coffeehouse in Normal Heights.

She is studying.

Janet’s earphones block the music outside and her laptop erases the view of the painted-white street performer, Angelique, on a platform near the huge window of LeStat’s. Janet, 21, and her friends come here often to study.

“It’s the only place in San Diego I know that is open 24 hours a day, so it’s really convenient,” the UCSD cognitive medicine major said.

WiFi, laptops and studying are changing the atmosphere of the San Diego coffeehouse scene.

“Once upon a time, LeStat’s was very social. Like a bar without any alcohol,” said Joseph Johnston, LeStat’s longtime manager. “But about two years ago the college crowd moved in, and along with it came a sea of laptops.”

At one time, Johnston said, customers were hanging out and talking at LeStat’s because they were looking for something to do. Now the college crowd takes advantage of WiFi, which is free at LeStat’s, 3343 Adams Ave. between 33rd and Felton streets.

“A lot of students can’t afford WiFi at home, so here they can buy a cup of coffee and hook up,” he said.

It’s the same at the crowded Filter coffeehouse in North Park, where on one weekend afternoon 20 laptops were flashing in the barn-like coffeehouse. Only one table of five was holding a conversation. Doug Gray, 46, has seen the changes in local coffeehouses and remembers when people “were more focused on the coffee.”

Gray, a North Park software engineer, frequents the coffeehouse scene and often visits Filter at 4096 30th St., Twiggs in University Heights, Rebecca’s in South Park, LeStat’s in Normal Heights and Starbucks across the street from Claire de Lune coffeehouse in North Park.

In the “old days,” coffeehouse patrons were out for socializing and live music, said Gray, who now said he has his laptop with him 90 percent of the time when he visits a coffeehouse. His friend, Jeff Sulm, 31, maintains that coffeehouses don’t even smell like coffee anymore.

“It’s something that’s missing today,” he said.

At Twiggs, 4594 Park Blvd., only eight of the 30 people in the coffeehouse one Sunday focus on their glaring screens. Others listen to music, chat, read, and one woman is practicing calligraphy.

“I come here because it’s near my neighborhood and the people here are interesting and they’ll chat with you,” Amy Nation said. “I don’t want to go to a coffeehouse where everyone is staring at their laptops.”

But Shih said students do socialize. She said she likes Lestat’s with its many couches and large tables because it makes study breaks easier. During a recent cramming session, she said she began talking to some people and then started playing cards with them.

“People come to cafes to be around other people, even when they’re studying and not trying to socialize,” said the student, who lives just a few blocks away from LeStat’s.

Perhaps Rebecca’s, in South Park at Juniper and 30th, is the best combination of computers and coffee. Students arrive in the afternoon to sit alone or in groups and take advantage of the free WiFi, said manager Aisling McIntyre.

“In the morning, more people are meeting, like young mothers and Bible groups,” McIntyre said. In the afternoon, the focus changes to solitary people studying. “Other people come in here to use Rebecca’s as their office,” she said.

One of those solitary workers on a recent Sunday is Nick Youssef, 28, from Los Angeles. A comedian, Youssef is working on his laptop while recovering from four sets at The Comedy Store in La Jolla the night before.

“I like to work on my sketches in coffeehouses, and it’s obviously better when the WiFi is free,” he said.

Seventy-nine-year-old Jim Miller doesn’t bring his laptop to Rebecca’s. But he would if he had one. Instead, Miller plays chess and asks other people at the café what news is on the internet.

“I think coffeehouses should be places where people can meet and communicate,” he said. “Unfortunately I have a desktop, not a laptop. But I’d bring it up here and hook it up if I had one.”