COFFEE
R E T N U O C CULTURE
S
tep through the towering wooden
doors at 199 W. 8th St. and you are
transported into a cavernous new
world, a world where coffee, music, food
and people mesh in an ancient forest
brought indoors.
Soft brown, tree-like pillars flank the
door and light streams in through 10-foot-
high windows. The ceiling soars above a
concrete floor through which a blue tile
river will soon flow. Groups of tables, chairs
and coaches sprout from the concrete and
old men play chess and nap in the clouds in
a mural on the back wall. Slow jazz fills the
air. This is The Strand.
At 5,500 sq. ft., The Strand is over-
whelming in size and is home to a bevy of
local concerns. “It’s trying to offer some sort
of counterpart to the Wal-Marting of
America,” said Jon Stock, part-owner of
The Strand and owner of Theo’s.
Formerly quarters of Anderson’s
Sporting Goods, the newly remodeled
building showed its public face in March
after nearly $200,000 in remodeling. Theo’s
coffeehouse sits in the main room, where
Cozmic Pizza will open a new restaurant
this summer. In addition to bringing in food
and drinks, Cozmic will book the entertain-
ment: low-key bands and poetry readings.
Windows Booksellers, a specialty shop for
used and rare books on religion and philos-
ophy, resides in the basement. Upstairs
houses Wipf and Stock Publishers. The
Strand owners are hoping to find several
more small, independent businesses to
move in within the next few months.
“It’d be great if it was a place people
could buy some interesting literature, hear
some interesting music, have some good
conversation and of course some good cof-
fee,” Stock says.
THEO’S OFFERS EUGENE
A NEW CULTURAL SPACE.
by Nika Carlson
Stock, friendly and prone to laughter, is
the center around which The Strand’s web is
spun. It’s with friends Doug and Paul
Randels that he owns The Strand and with
John Wipf he owns Wipf and Stock. He is
the
main
shareholder
in
the
Theo’s/Windows Booksellers corporation.
He is also a member of the Church of the
Servant King, an intentional community
that Stock defines as “miscellaneous
Mennonites” living out their faith in part
through communal living. He wants to fos-
ter the same sense of community in his busi-
ness that flourishes in his own home.
Stock shares a home and resources with
two other families that he sees as an “incred-
ibly hospitable people open to the strange
ones in society.”
Liam Arnold is one of those “strange
ones”. A patron of Theo’s since it opened in
1999, his black boots and wild hair create an
image in sharp contrast to the yuppies sip-
ping lattes who share the space. “I really like
the people,” says Arnold. “They’ve always
been really good to me.” He is but one of the
mixed brood that populates The Strand; also
assembled here are aging chess players and
punk rockers, teens and businesspeople.
Stock’s original coffeehouse, Theo’s,
was formerly based on Broadway. He and
the Randels bought the Anderson building
in July for $700,000 and began moving in
December after $200,000 in renovations.
Once an atrocious black and silver, a left-
over decor from the failed nightclub
Platinum Fridays, it is now a cool and calm
oasis.
“It’s expansive. It’s beautiful,” says
Brian Logan, an employee of Theo’s coffee-
house. “People really respond to it. It’s a
luxury to be in a space where you don’t feel
crammed onto someone’s lap.”
ew
DOUG RANDELS AND JON STOCK.
© 2 0 0 3 W i d m e r B ro t h e r s B re w i n g, Po r t l a n d, O re g o n
L U C K I LY, I T D O E S N ’ T TA K E
P E R F E C T LY B A L A N C E D M E N T O C R E AT E
A P E R F E C T LY B A L A N C E D B E E R .
It goes without saying that men willing to dedicate 17 years
of their lives to the perfect glass of hefeweizen have different
priorities than most. Would you fly to Düsseldorf for a small
sample of hundred-year-old yeast? Or scour the Northwest for
Kurt Widm er
the best hops? No, Kurt and Rob Widmer are not “balanced.”
Rob Widm er
Which is precisely why Widmer Hefeweizen is.
w w w. w i d m e r. c o m
CHOW! JULY 3, 2003 9