![\"Owners](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Lestats.jpg\" "\\"Lestats\\"")
<\/a>\u201cLestat\u2019s hasn\u2019t been locked in eight years,\u201d Husler said with a smile. \u201cI don\u2019t even know where the key is anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Husler and Gerkowski first saw Lestat\u2019s in 1997, it was a small coffeehouse called Java de Paradigm, which suffered from a lack of clientele and sporadic hours. It took them nearly five years to make it a 24-hour shop.<\/p>\n
Now Husler and Gerkowski are about to go back to the life of closing coffee shop doors \u2013 albeit briefly.<\/p>\n
The pair has purchased Cream Coffee \u2013 the iconic, mural-adorned shop at 4496 Park Boulevard in University Heights \u2013 and they expect to reopen in July as Lestat\u2019s on Park.<\/p>\n
Their first priority after taking over is to redo the run-down, dining-hall d\u00e9cor of Cream, as well as trash the basement-worthy furnishings. <\/p>\n
\u201c[We\u2019re going to] renovate it to a more stylistic place that makes people want to go in, bring it culture and bring it to life,\u201d Husler said.<\/p>\n
They expect to use Lestat\u2019s style, the painting-adorned coffee tables and baroque furniture, but Husler also said Lestat\u2019s on Park will have a classier French theme, instead of the original\u2019s Victorian motif. <\/p>\n
Like the shop on Adams Avenue, Lestat\u2019s on Park will have quirky cultural references as well. The area used to be an ostrich farm and mention of ostrich skin chairs has been tossed around, along with ostrich images on some of the tables. <\/p>\n
Lestat\u2019s on Park will also feature more performances than Cream had. <\/p>\n
Justin Hudnall, a Lestat\u2019s regular and coordinator of So Say We All, a visual and spoken arts performance troupe that holds a monthly show at Cream, has already spoken to Husler, and both said they look forward to working together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever direction [Husler] chooses to take [at Lestat\u2019s on Park], I have faith it will mean only good things to artists and the University Heights neighborhood as a whole,” Hudnall said.<\/p>\n
A back room in the coffee house is currently leased to a clothing boutique, Hunt & Gather, that will become a small acoustic venue with nightly shows. Hunt & Gather has the space leased through 2010, and Husler intends to honor that lease, so the small venue won\u2019t open until at least January 2011. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be great because it\u2019s the kind of place we can throw two speakers in, and let the room work for itself,\u201d said Louis Brazier, the one-man sound crew that manages Lestat\u2019s West (Lestat\u2019s neighboring music venue) every night. <\/p>\n
The shop on Park will also serve some of it\u2019s namesake\u2019s signature dishes \u2013 created by Gerkowski, a seasoned executive chef \u2013 as well as Lestat\u2019s large, popular cupcakes, adorned with humor in the form of frosting skulls or kittens, and their individually-sized pies, which rival the best slices from nearby Julian. <\/p>\n
Lestat\u2019s on Park will be the first satellite property for Husler and Gerkowski, though Lestat\u2019s has expanded twice, with neighboring Lestat\u2019s West in 2000 and a much bigger seating area last August.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at Cream for a while,\u201d Husler said. \u201cI think Cream is just a fantastic location, it has all the things that make a great coffee shop.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2007, Lestat\u2019s owners had a third party approach Cream owner Chris Coggan, a graffiti artist turned biochemist turned barista. At the time Coggan was uninterested in letting Cream go. <\/p>\n
After Cream Coffee began to lose business, Husler and Gerkowski, rather than watch the shop go under, decided to make another pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was doing really well and then it began to falter,\u201d Gerkowski said.<\/p>\n
Shawn Gray, Cream Coffee\u2019s manager, says the change in ownership is a welcome one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a deep respect for the present owner now, but I know his passions are elsewhere,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
Husler, ignoring the advice to start with a clean slate, will be interviewing Cream\u2019s current employees over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never want to look at a person as being anything other than an asset,\u201d Husler said. <\/p>\n
Nick Garland, who has worked at Lestat\u2019s for seven years, couldn\u2019t even see over the counter when he first ordered coffee from Husler. The two bonded when Garland caught Husler playing Star Craft in his office and tried to teach him how to do a Reaver Drop. Husler said the only thing he learned was to not play video games with anyone younger than himself. <\/p>\n
At 17, Garland asked to shadow Husler for a high school work-study. After working a catering gig together at the Star 92.5 Jingle Ball, Husler asked Garland if he wanted a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job fueled my video-game nerd-dom,\u201d Garland said as Husler and Gerkowski laughed. \u201cI bought an original Xbox with my first check.\u201d <\/p>\n
Later, Gerkowski\u2019s mutt, Charger, rescued from Hurricane Katrina and known for his crafty revenge tactics, urinated on the Xbox. It\u2019s still brought up years later, but with the kind of loving hostility expected from siblings.<\/p>\n
While Husler\u2019s younger sister does the baking for Lestat\u2019s (and soon Lestat\u2019s on Park), everyone else, like Garland, is considered family because they work at the shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t get rid of employees here, we just add them as we get bigger,\u201d Husler said.<\/p>\n
And getting bigger doesn\u2019t seem to be a problem for the owners of Lestat\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done pretty well in this economy, so we know this is an opportunity for us,\u201d Gerkowski said. <\/p>\n
The transition might be difficult, but the new owners said they\u2019re looking forward to opening Lestat\u2019s on Park full time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think coffee and 24 hours go hand in hand,\u201d Husler said. \u201c[San Diego] is a big city; there should be more of that culture. We want to be 24 hours in a year, but we have to build the business back up and rebuild the confidence within the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
If their success with Lestat\u2019s says anything, it\u2019s that they\u2019ll be losing the keys to Cream soon enough.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Harvey SDUN Reporter At 3343 Adams Avenue, next to the Normal Heights welcome sign, is a coffeehouse adorned with gargoyles and a door that never closes. In fact, John Husler and Jamie Gerkowski, the owners of Lestat\u2019s Coffee House, probably couldn\u2019t lock up even if they wanted to. \u201cLestat\u2019s hasn\u2019t been locked in […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1308,"featured_media":243576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Owners of quirky Lestat\u2019s coffee house eye expansion at Park Blvd. site","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243575","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\/1308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}