_
"I come mostly for the cap-
puccino. I have a machine at
home, but its not the same.".
Sheri Trellevik
—
"I think it's the new f
ion to be at a coffeehouse. It's
t intimidating. It's a g
ace to meet other people.
Jenifer Rosenwasser,
for of YAD
a a
a bar or restaurant.'
Robyn Wiseley,
"To study."
Sherry, Royal Oak
Opposite page:
Top Left: Veteran coffeehouse
performer Ron Coden
checks out Brazil.
fop Right: LaDonna Slattery and
Anda Dowe enjoy their drinks.
Bottom: Ryan Haberek
and Robyn Wisely cozy up
with cappuccino.
where people listened and had a good
the old coffeehouses, which served as spring-
time. Some of the music became enter-
boards for talented performers and magnets
Above: Michelle Meisner
taining, just as the comedy was," Hunt-
for people given to lively repartee.
of Brazil coffeehouse
ington Woods folk singer/producer Ron
Back then, beatniks — they of the goa-
with frothy treats.
Coden recalls.
tees, black turtlenecks and sullen expres-
Mr. Coden, 52, was a knock-kneed high-schooler when
sions — liked to hang out with a cup of coffee and call
each other "Daddy-O." Sometimes one or two would get he started frequenting places like the Gallery on Liver-
nois in Detroit, a place he considers to be the first true
up and simply rap or tell jokes.
"In the '50s, the only places that were allowing peo- performance coffeehouse. Like himself, many classmates
ple to get up and basically talk were the coffeehouses. took the stage with their guitars and voices, some of them
Comedy grew out of the talk. That led to folk music forming impromptu groups to grab a piece of the spot-
light. Mr. Coden had a band himself that he called the
Impromptus.
The Raven, which opened in the early '60s on James
Couzens and closed in the early '80s in the Southfield lo-
cation that is now Sweet Lorraine's restaurant, started
out as an art coffeehouse. But when owner Herb Cohen
realized he could pack the place by bringing in young
music groups, the Raven quickly became a premier per-
formance coffeehouse, Mr. Coden remembers.
There was also the Retort, a basement coffeehouse in
BEAN SCENE page 105