Observing Readers at LA Mill (Los Angeles)

This is a piece of writing I did as I studied the patrons of a local coffee shop in the act of reading.  I have conducted several other investigations of this sort and, from them, have gathered interesting anecdotes / stories around stories / text.

This first writing was done at LAMILL in Silver Lake – an upscale coffee shop with a small but pleasant menu and free wifi for 2 hours / customer / day.

When you're reading a static thing, your mind is put at ease.

A woman marks up a paper, excited to use her pen.  People are reading their menus – together.  A man in a sweater is reading a big book with his dog outside, while holding the dog's leash.  Then, there are those on their laptops, furrowing their brows, distracted by the number of possibilities.  A woman is scratching her scalp, making her forehead red.

All the laptop people (except for one or two) sit at the counter, keeping each other company without talking.  Solidarity.  A skinny, tall boy peers down at the counter, reading the menu in order to order; he fidgets as he is watched by the person behind the counter.  A girl?  I can't see.  Yes, a girl with pretty hair up in a bun and bad acne.  Her co-worker has prettier hair, flowing black.  It looks very soft and well conditioned.  A hip man in his late thirty somethings sits outside.  he has pulled a chair across the sidewalk to get the Fall morning sun.  He reads his phone and smirks.  Maybe it's an email from a friend.  He has a streak of silver in his hair that's been swept back across the rest.

hair

Two girls share the view of one laptop, while one draws on her Wacom tablet.  They discuss and make changes together, talking.

A funny, disheveled man walks in with his coffee, an old messenger bag with a safety pin on it and a New York times in its signature blue bag.  Probably yesterday's paper (Sunday) because it's been rummaged through already, sloppily held underneath his arm.  People who carry the newspaper are funny.  Oh yeah – his cellphone ring is the sound of crickets.  It's humorous and loud.

$3.84 for a cup of coffee.  Oh my.

Ha!  He and the anxious girl behind him are on the phone in the same position.

spy

(She put her hand up when I went to sneak the photo.)  Still, right hand plugs the right ear.  Left hand holds the phone to the left ear.

The editing girl (left) switches from her papers to her computer and her fingers bounce across the keyboard, springy with the energy of having just come up with an idea – making the changes she first made with her pen.  She's in the zone.  All the girls carry two bags: one is a purse, the other holds a laptop or a baby.

I have officially entered a Paul Auster novel, by the way.  I am a detective.

detective