Restaurant Booth sob story
 

My wife and I always admired the booths at our fav breakfast joint. They even inspired us to want a game area with a booth. A while ago we went to eat and they were closed. We tried today and they were open-with all new decor. We inquired about the booths and they threw them all away! The new booths are hard and uncomfortable. Oh well. I looked on Craigslist and there are lots of booths but they are 5 hrs away in Portland.

Favorite Places
 

That's not a sob story, it's a sad truth .

I understand it very well .

I used to like to go to a local eatery in down town Los Angeles called "Howard's Cafe" ~ after many years a waitress bought it and changed the decor a little bit but _not_ the menu nor the old, beat up seating .

I went by not long ago and it's shuttered and the building is vacant .

Sheila we your long time Customers all miss you .

One of my formerly favorite coffee spots in Palo Alto - one of the Peet’s Coffee chain, smaller than Starbucks, but better in many ways, and mostly in California - dramatically changed their decor a few months ago. they went to a lot of white faux granite counters. For some reason it’s a lot harder to get a table there now. Fortunately, a couple of the others have not changed, I much prefer their decor.

There was an original hippie cafe in Eugene, Oregon, I first went there in ‘82, I would stop by on most of my craigslist carpool trips from the Bay up to Washington state. It was fun taking new people to it. The menu was incredible, the decor and coffee were appealing. In about 2016 I got the shocking news that they had sold to a small local chain, sort of a Denny’s clone. Wasn’t nearly as interesting as the Keystone Cafe had been. I learned that the owner have been trying to sell it for two years as it was, but could find no takers. Some of the locals were really upset, word was that the new owners even got telephoned death threats. I’m thinking, great, people who lived there didn’t mount an effort to buy it and maintain it yet they’re threatening the new owners?

It’s a hard truth, I’m afraid, operating a one-of-a-kind unique place like that is more work and not as profitable as operating a McDonald’s or a Taco Bell.