{"id":223617,"date":"2016-05-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-public-square-for-the-village\/"},"modified":"2016-05-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T07:00:00","slug":"a-public-square-for-the-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-public-square-for-the-village\/","title":{"rendered":"A Public Square for the Village"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coffee shop builds community downstairs,\u00a0supports community upstairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jay Anderson<\/p>\n

Aaron Henderson grew up in the La Mesa\u2013Spring Valley area and has returned to open a new coffee shop coming to the Village called Public Square, located on La Mesa Boulevard where Cosmos Coffee formerly operated.<\/p>\n

Public Square is not merely taking over the old Cosmos shop; it is undertaking a major renovation to transform it to include spacious indoor and outdoor seating, a concert stage, and the coffee bar. Additionally, Henderson intends to convert some of the second-floor rooms of the Historic La Mesa Hotel for after-school programs and tutoring use.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Public Square] will not just be a place to hang out, but a place to do good,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cIt\u2019s as much to partner with organizations that are already doing things in the community. We\u2019ll be the vehicle to help serve the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"public<\/a>
Public Square is a soon-to-be-open coffee shop in the Village that will host community programs upstairs. (Photo by Jeff Clemetson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like partnering with nonprofits David\u2019s Harp and Urban Life San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if this is the term they use, but it is trades for grades,\u201d he said. Participating high school students who maintain good grades and good character marks, do not receive detentions or referrals, are not expelled, and remain in school will be taught trades. For example, David\u2019s Harp will teach students audio, video, and music production, while Urban Life will provide instruction about the culinary business, including aspects of serving etiquette, food preparation, running a kitchen, and catering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not only building the community downstairs, but [also] supporting the community upstairs. Whatever profitability we have downstairs, we can help support nonprofits that intentionally serve the community upstairs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In support of the overall project, including the coffeehouse build-out and renovations build-out and equipment for the upstairs music and art studio, Henderson initiated a $50,000 Kickstarter campaign. Although Henderson said, at this time, opening the coffeehouse is the priority, since the campaign did not fully fund.<\/p>\n

Though a date is not set, a soft launch for the coffeehouse is hoped for in late May and definitely in June at the latest. After the opening, another Kickstarter campaign will be launched this summer. In the interim, the coffeehouse will be the main focus.<\/p>\n

\"Henderson\"<\/a>
Aaron Henderson (Photo by Jay Anderson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The downstairs coffeehouse will provide what Henderson describes as terrific coffee, artisan tea, and \u201camazing grub from some of San Diego\u2019s finest,\u201d by collaborating with and supporting local small businesses that are very good at their craft.<\/p>\n

For example, Paraiso Delicacies will provide in-house cinnamon rolls, which Henderson described as fantastic and with choices of creative ideas for different toppings. Public Square will also serve Wow Wow Waffles \u2014 Belgian liege waffles topped with sweet and savory toppings. And they will serve Pop Pies \u2014 potpies with an ethnic twist. Not your traditional chicken potpies, but \u201cincredible crusts\u201d with a variety of fillings, like beef machaca, chicken Indian curry, and Chinese spiced pork.<\/p>\n

Public Square will also offer daily offerings of concerts, poetry readings, art galley showings, and open mic nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you walk into the space, you are walking into a narrative,\u201d Henderson said, adding he wants it to be a place where people can connect with one another \u2014fitting with his theme of \u201cCoffee. Culture. Cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henderson wants Public Square to be a place where La Mesa can thrive, while preserving its identity and sense of community. To get that sense of community, on the front windows, he solicits public comments, asking, \u201cWhat does community mean to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Kickstarter campaign videos, Henderson speaks about the history of the public square serving as the heart of a community and how the public square hosted news, commerce, politics, and social movements \u2014 a place where people could see and be seen; hear and be heard; and serve and be served. \u201c[Public Square] is intentionally designed to connect people with one each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Public Square Kickstarter campaign, go to kck.st\/1YwKqbY<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jay Anderson is a freelance writer, former Marine and retired college administrator. Reach him at o6rider@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coffee shop builds community downstairs,\u00a0supports community upstairs By Jay Anderson Aaron Henderson grew up in the La Mesa\u2013Spring Valley area and has returned to open a new coffee shop coming to the Village called Public Square, located on La Mesa Boulevard where Cosmos Coffee formerly operated. Public Square is not merely taking over the old […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":223024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"A Public Square for the Village","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}