WOW. Sometime this spring, we were offered the opportunity to inhabit a space in the Northside of Pittsburgh. Then began a lifetime of months, where contractors tore up and rebuilt; city inspectors scrutinized and subsequently crushed us with news of seemingly insurmountable obstacles; and a dizzying, endless amount of decisions were made to get us closer to brewing a cup of coffee. Staff were hired, and we scrambled to creatively fit them into our current shops to give them the work we promised. Equipment was chosen and installed, and all the little things you take for granted behind bar now had to be remembered, so that in their forgetting the coffee wouldn’t be an embarrassment.
On Dec. 1st, we hung the “Open” sign and set the door widely ajar on the corner of Buena Vista and Jacksonia, the intersection of a cup of coffee and a neighbors’ hands it will warm. 1501 Buena Vista St. is the Commonplace at the Mexican War Streets! We want to invite you to join us, in this Gentle Open. Gentle, as in, we’re all new together in this relationship -in this space- our Commonplace baristas there and you, our host community. Let us therefore go forth in joy and gentleness as we gather in this old-new space, enjoying our new-friend excitement (and maybe a little awkwardness)!
Here’s a visual narrative of how this began. I starts roughly at the beginning, and travels the distance from our first coffee brewed there through our second first coffee brewed there. Some of these will be familiar, some won’t…
Our story is your story. We -you and us, that is- have been doing coffee together for a long time. We roast and brew, and you give us feedback about our craft. As the staff of Commonplace, not only do we share coffee together, we live a few doors down, in the same neighborhood, or just half a mile away. We talk about our jobs, coursework, kids, life. We share these moments over a cup of coffee, the catalyst for our interactions. We appreciate your role in this story, and are grateful for your presence. We look forward to another cup tomorrow, as we continue in this new adventure together…
*clink* Cheers!