A little piece of heaven, so close to hell
The Goleta Coffee Company is a little haven for coffee drinkers everywhere. It’s right in front of your nose, tucked away next to Vons in a little shopping center on the corner of Hollister and Turnpike in Santa Barbara, CA. The whole place seems warm and inviting at 6:00 on a cold rainy morning, the couches in the back and the chairs around the fireplace whisper little hints and invite you to stay and wake up to the sound of the espresso machine and the cheerful talk of the girl behind the counter.
This place is magical; it inspires you to write that term paper or those letters to that person you really care about. The décor is industrial but not cold, it has this funk zone appeal; with local art on the walls and oriented strandboard everywhere. They don’t seem to have any chairs that match, everything looks different; almost like somebody’s living room or garage. No matter what time I go in there, I always see someone, drinking a latte at 10:30 pm cramming for a test; or the group of moms that come in after jogging around 9:45 in the morning chatting and drinking house coffee out of ceramic mugs.
The people behind the counter make a difference. You can talk to the people there, and they talk back, not like Starbucks. That’s important, they make you laugh and smile as they make you chai latte or that eye opener. Early in the morning or late at night they make me laugh. They make me smile, and most importantly, they respect me. That right they respect me as a person even though I attend the high school across the street.
This is one of the few coffee shops that have an accessible back door, which is great for escaping out of when you can’t be seen with someone or you don’t want to walk in from the front because you’re not buying anything. I really like that back door, it’s a quick way in and out when you’re late or it’s raining.
The Goleta Coffee Company is a great place to write a book or a poem; even those letters that you need to write to her, just because. The air’s warm and a little moist; just right for your pen to lay a trail of ink on paper, or your fingers to put letters on the screen of you sleek little laptop.
People with laptops seem to really like this place; they have power outlets that you can use everywhere. They’re located about every 2 tables all along the walls in the back “room” of the place, and behind the leather sofa in the back corner against the bathroom wall.
I guess that’s what makes this place so warm and inviting. It’s inspiring, in fact I’m writing this on my laptop as I sit on the comfy leather couch next to the fireplace.
If you ever get a chance, you have to visit and patronize this wonderful little piece of heaven, oh ever so close to hell.