By Jim Berg and Teresa Willis

It’s Miller time. This Bud’s for you. Tastes great, less filling. Why ask why? Please step out of the car. How much have you had to drink tonight? Blood, breath or urine? Point one zero, point zero eight…

As consciousness rises and the legal limit falls, alcohol is becoming less and less a social requisite and more and more a social hazard. With the decline of alcohol has come increased popularity of the coffeehouse as a viable alternative to the bar scene. NoHo is home to three coffeehouses that have benefited from and are serving the need for unimpaired social interaction.

Someone told me that restaurants and coffeehouses, like pets, tend to take on the characteristics of their owners. Having had the opportunity to experience each of the NoHo coffeehouses and interview their respective owners, I can testify to this truth. But a coffeehouse is much more than the creation of its owner – it is as much a creation of the customers that frequent the coffeehouse, and the owner really is just a quintessential customer. Each of the owners that I spoke to said in one way or another that they wanted to create the kind of place that they would want to spend time at – where they would want to be a regular customer.

The Iguana Cafe

The Iguana Cafe is a coffeehouse. That classification, however, is about the only thing the Iguana has in common with Its tireless milieu of counterparts in the Los Angeles area. Those who are seeking a place to “be seen” pass the Iguana by for the flavor-of-the-month trend spots. The Iguana is a place one goes to see. A place to listen. A place to learn. A place where artists and audience stretch themselves past the confines of the mainstream.

The atmosphere is no-frills. The decor is early-eighties college student. The feeling is most often described as similar to sitting in one’s own living room. The tables and chairs are mis-matched salvage, There’s a couple of cushy couches. Flyers of upcoming and recently passed performances litter the tables. A variety of merchandise includes a vast selection of books, Jewelry, incense, t-shirts, record albums, tapes and poetry chapbooks. The wares of the artists who work out of the Iguana are also on sale It isn’t uncommon to witness an extremely impressive performance, then walk to the counter to find the artist’s tape or chapbook. The art on the walls changes monthly, providing a venue for local visual artists to sell their work.

There is no noisy espresso machine, no fancy cheesecake. There’s a self-serve pot of coffee that survives on the put-a-quarter-in-the-kitty honor system. Muffins, ready-made sandwiches, chips and candy are the fare. Food and drink take a back seat to performance at the Iguana. Everything takes a back seat to performance at the Iguana, as it is the life-blood of the business. Cover is rarely over $4 and there are no advance sales, no VIP or guest lists – everyone pays. Owner Tom Ianniello splits the door with the artist (yes, the performers are actually PAID), and still makes enough to support the place.

Performers are not only paid, they are respected. Tom allows no smoking during performances, which sends a blanket message that, unlike other bars and coffeehouses, what’s happening on the stage is the focus, not a background to patron’s socializing. If you want to talk during a show, you go outside. The audience listens, appreciates, applauds. It is precisely this aspect that makes the Iguana the favorite stage of legendary artists such as Exene Cervenka, Duke McVinnie, Ellyn Maybe, and Dan Bern.

Though it provides space for the creative person to succeed, the Iguana is also a place in which it is safe to fail. The Sunday Open Mike Night is usually packed. Admission is free and anyone who can scrawl their name on a piece of paper and drop it in a bucket can have the stage for eight minutes or so. Though not all the performers have the experience and depth of the veterans, everyone gets equal time, equal respect and equal support. All are encouraged to try their hand. The point is the challenge. Over a period of time, one can witness a once sweating, stuttering poet blossom into an accomplished performer who has discovered a voice and has learned how to use it. Musicians network among themselves and sometimes present a song that has been rehearsed for fifteen minutes outside on the sidewalk. Limits are dissolved. Risk is encouraged. People learn, grow, succeed. It is truly exhilarating.

When patrons are asked what makes the Iguana so special, the overwhelming majority answer, “Tom.” Torn Ianniello opened the place in October of 1989 with no particular vision on mind. A musician himself, with a history on the restaurant business, he just wanted “a place with a stage.” The business evolved around him and his family. His inherent integrity and respect for good music, performance, and his customers in general have made the Iguana a homey, high quality, completely unique coffeehouse experience.

Eagles Coffee Pub

Of the three NoHo coffeehouses, Eagles is probably the one that truly is a coffeehouse. While the Iguana is more like a performance cooperative and the Eclectic is more a cafe/restaurant, Eagles – with over 20 different coffee blends and flavors is a coffee house. Co-owner Jim Nowak is the local coffee expert who can distinguish each of the coffee blends by taste.

Eagles is a place to meet, write, read, converse, play chess, or whatever over hot Java or an iced coffee. At Eagles, nightly performances are a background for customers To this end, there is never a cover charge at Eagles. If there is a performance, the tip jar is handed around for the musician.

Star Irvine and Jim Nowak opened Eagles in September of 1991, and for both of them, it serves to make Los Angeles a better place to live. Star left L.A. approximately thirteen years ago, forsaking the city like many for its traffic, smog, shallowness, etc. While in New Orleans, she was attracted to the coffeehouses that were a fixture in every neighborhood, and planned on opening one in Nashville, Tennessee. Forced to return to L.A. due to an illness in her family, she began a process of exorcising those things about her home state and city that she was originally trying to escape from when she left. Opening Eagles Coffee Pub is part of that process.

Too often, people come to Los Angeles to cash in on the opportunity that is available here, but have no interest in investing in this place Star and Jim opened Eagles as an in-vestment in place and community.

The name Eagles is derived from this process of exorcising negative associations with California. About the time Star left L.A., the Eagle’s Hotel California was a hit album and cocaine was rapidly becoming the drug of choice – turning what were mellow, easy-going hippies into hyper desperate fast track hustlers. Naming the coffeehouse Eagles has served to break the association of California and addiction.

In creating a safe place, Eagles is a success. Regulars re-fer to Eagles as a medicinal, spiritual retreat. The success I surprises Star. She says “really weird” things happen like the time she went to Toys-R-Us and bought a bunch of board games for the coffeehouse, including a ouija board. Three weeks later, a woman offered to buy the ouija board. When Star told her she could buy one at almost any toy store, the woman insisted on buying the Eagle’s board because it had positive vibes.

The Eclectic Cafe

Since he was sixteen years old, Brian Sheehan has had a dual passion – acting and cooking. Given these two passions, he had two goals – success as an actor and to open a restaurant These goals are not incompatible, and Brian figured that to open the kind of restaurant he wanted, he would have to first achieve success and celebrity status as an actor. Like many actors, he found celebrity status to be elusive and a long time coming, so after twelve years he got tired of waiting to open his restaurant. Short of the capital to open a full fledged restaurant, he opened the Eclectic Cafe in May of 1992. Eight months later, the success of the Eclectic is enabling Brian to expand the menu, install a complete gourmet kitchen and become the kind of restaurant Brian dreamed of.

Despite the increasing emphasis on fine dining, the Eclectic Cafe still maintains its coffeehouse roots, particularly after lOpm. There is live music nightly, often featuring musicians who are showcasing new material before going in to one of the nearby recording studios. Most of the acts that Brian books are referred to him by industry A & R people who frequent the Eclectic.

In addition to offering coffee, food and music, the Eclectic Is also a gallery for visual art. The gallery, which is curated by Brian’s mother, Carole Sheehan, features a different artist every month. The emphasis is on local artists and affordable prices.

During the day, the Eclectic draws the industry people for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At night, the Eclectic is a favored nightspot for those seeking a somewhat hip non-alcoholic place to listen to music, shoot some pool, or just hang out. Brian has created the kind of place that people like himself want to spend time at without having to going over the hill.