For more on the caffeine front: Sparky’s Espresso Cafe is no more. This is actually old news, but I was reminded of it last night when I picked up some cat food at Green Pets next door, seeing the cafe shuttered and chained. One of the first businesses to lead the charge of a clump of cool shops at 14th & S, the grungy little coffeeshop has finally fizzled out. I remembered when it opened how excited I was and later on how the promise of a chocolate chai or cappucino made my early morning crawl to One World Fitness more motivating. But then I’d noticed a steady decline in quality, service, and general atmosphere for a while, culminating in a night I was snarled at for incorrectly busing my cup and thought to myself “Ah, next time, I’ll head to 14U.”
There’s been a lot of speculation about the reasons for the closing – higher rent being a suspected culprit – so I asked the most reliable informants – their neighbors – if they knew what was up. Apparently it was taking a long time to get the alcohol license renewed, so they had to cut back on hours, which made them lose business, so they decided to pack it up and close for good. Who knows, the real reasons could be myriad. Suffice to say it’s gone for good, and a license application for a new place called “Cork” is up. My informant says this is rumoured to be a wine bar/cafe.
So from espresso to vino. Caffeinated grungy hipsters to – who? Social implications here? Or is it all economics – alcohol makes more $$ than caffeine? Interesting. In any case, I’m very curious to see how this wine bar pans out. It’s only a two block crawl home…
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
As one of the founding editors of We Love DC, Jenn’s passions are theater and cocktails. After two decades in the city, she’s loved every quirky, mundane, elegant, rude minute of her DC life. A proud advocate for DC’s talented drinks scene, she’s judged the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s ARTINI contest, the DC Rickey Month contest, the Jefferson Hotel’s Quill Cocktail competition, and is a founding member of LUPEC DC. A graduate of Catholic University’s drama program, she toured the country as a member of National Players, and has been both an actor and a costume designer before jumping the aisle to theater criticism. Writing for We Love DC restored her happiness after a life-threatening illness, and she’s grateful to you, dear readers. Send your suggestions to jenn (at) welovedc (dot) com and follow her on Twitter.
