30 Days of Summer at Modern Times Coffeehouse: Days 4 & 5

Weekends at the coffeehouse are a blur. It's our busiest time of the week, when we get many regulars and new customers who are out exploring the city and looking for a new cafe experience or looking to visit the legendary Politics & Prose bookstore. It's a great time to people watch and to really get a feel for who really lives in this town.

around 9am at modern times

Even though the bookstore doesn't open until 9am on Saturdays and 10am on Sundays, we open both days at 8am. There's usually a few folks patiently waiting outside with their newspapers under their arm and cheerful, eager smiles. Morning people. I still do not get you. I must say though, that having a pleasant first customer of the day pretty much predicts how the rest of your day will go (Asian superstition), so I'm glad it's the regulars.

After 9, the families start trickling in for a second breakfast/snacktime. Coffees for the parents, bagels, chocolate croissants & cookies for the kids. Don't worry, we do not judge. Didn't you know, baristas primarily live on day-old bagels and broken cookies?

Around 10 we get the athletes post-workout. Bicyclists, joggers, yogis, soccer players. This is the eating crowd that needs to refuel. Croissants, danishes, coffee of all kinds, salmon bagels, fruit/granola/yogurt bowls, ham and swiss brioche are their favorites.

11am is the hangover parade. Can be easily identified by the disheveled hair, gravely voice, stumbling over words in their order, and apologetic faces for not remembering where their wallet is. They are most grateful when you surprise them with an extra shot in their "Red Eye", which turns it into a "Black Eye".

Between 12 and 5 we're bustling with family lunches, coffee dates, and there's usually two if not three author readings happening in the bookstore that send floods of people coming through before and after the events.

If it's a Saturday night when we are having our NERDS! Trivia Night co-hosted with Politics & Prose, we have grilled cheese sandwiches on special at 7pm and then everyone treks upstairs for the event at 8. (It's free and all ages-- but must register in person at 7pm).

Sundays follow this basic schedule, except everything happens about 45 minutes later and we close at 8pm. We hope you come visit us on a weekend someday and experience the coffeehouse during this very special time!