Starbucks - Center City, Philadelphia (200 South Broad Street)

The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel Building
starbuckseverywhere.net

Sometimes you head off with clear plans then events happen that push you in a different direction.  Sometimes the different direction gives you a jewel.  That is exactly what happened to me when I headed to Center City to hear the Curtis Institute Orchestra perform Messiaen's  Turangalila-Syphonie at the Kimmel Center.  (I have put a link to the concert at the bottom of the page.)  My plans were to catch the High Speedline into Center City, walk to the Starbucks on the south side of the Kimmel Center, write my soldier's letter then go to the Center. 

I had timed my trip pretty tightly, so when the volunteers from Samaritan Hospice tried to talk with me in the train station I was a bit short.  I did however open my bag and let them stuff fliers and brochures inside.  I promised to read them, which I'm sorry to say that I have yet to do.  I will though, I promise.  As I walked through the rain from my train stop in Center City towards the Starbucks, I decided that I would stop in The Bellevue-Stratford Building to eat the sandwich, dried apricots and walnuts that I had carried in with me for dinner.  The building, built in 1904 and costing over $8,000,000 (in 1904 dollars), is just beautiful.  The ceiling and iron work are magnificent.   As I entered the building I was so focused on getting out of the rain and folding my umbrella that I barely noticed the lobby.   After finishing my dinner in the downstairs dining court, I headed back through the lobby to walk over to the Starbucks.  Now, here is the point in my story when a jewel dropped into my life.  There on my left at the front revolving door was a Starbucks!   I wondered over, looked around and decided to stay.  It was a wonderful shop and Starbucks had made good use of the space.  I settled into one of the four velvet chairs and began my letter.

Lobby
The Bellevue-Stratford Building

In the picture above (taken 12-2010),  you can see the iron work on the stairway behind my daughter and some of the ceiling work.  This is the area that I walked through to get to the stairs to go down to the food court.  The Starbucks in just on the other side of the stairway.

 COMFORT COMMENTS: The comfort of this shop for me was all in the aesthetics. Starbucks had made full use of the grand lobby by leaving the front wall open at the top so that you could see the ceiling work. That same front wall had a beautiful stain glass window above the condiments table and the wall itself was made of mostly glass so that you never felt that you had left the lobby. Although there was a separate seating area that offered more choices, I preferred to sit in one of the velvet chairs so that I could watch the people coming and going in the Starbucks and through the revolving door of the building. I realized after a bit of time that I could see out a window to the building across the street which was being illuminated by lights that were changing in color and where a ballet rehearsal was taking place. Even the floor of the Starbucks competed for space in my mind with its mosaic flower design.

SHOP CRITIQUE:  The only choice of creamer was half and half.  A customer had to ask for the staff to refill the half and half.  The store was very clean.  This store did not have restrooms.

EMPLOYEE COMMENTS:  The employees were very friendly.  And because of that I do feel badly for repeating the following incident, but it struck me the wrong way at the time.  I had ordered my coffee and forgot to say that I wanted decaf, which is a must for me after 2 PM.  I got the barista's attention and asked if I could make it a decaf.  Luckily she had not made the espresso yet and it was not a problem.  However, when I apologized for forgetting, she replied, "Don't worry about it. When you pay $20 for a cup of coffee I think that you should get what you want."  I don't really think Starbucks wants customers to walk away feeling that they are being overcharged.

INTERESTING AND INFORMATIONAL WEB-SITES:
*http://instantencore.com/music/player.aspx?ListItemId=1958473&webkitkey=140da1305820429f92ec3037551aaced
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue-Stratford_Hotel
*http://www.starbucks.com/
*http://www.soldiersangels.org/
*http://www.samaritanhospice.org/

Starbucks - Center City Philadelphia (15th and Latimer Street)

I was so excited to finally be making my way into Center City to a Starbucks there.  I guess I could have visited a Center City Starbucks on any of the previous Starbucks' visits because I am independent after all.  But I saved my visit to combine it with some other event.  I just had to wait for that event to come along.  And it did!  While I was visiting Starbucks in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Curtis Institute of Music offered their "friends" $5 tickets to attend the performance of Messiaen's Turangalila Symphonie at the Kimmel Center in Center City.  And, of course, being the "friend" that I am, I snatched up a ticket.  In hindsight I should have taken all my Jersey buddies with me.  AMAZING concert, but more about that later.  Along with my $5 ticket came the invitation to attend the Dean's lecture,  Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphonie: A Love Song, at the Curtis Institute on Locust Street in the Rittenhouse Square area of Center City. 
I hopped on the "high speed line", the mass transit train between Southern New Jersey and Center City on April 5th around 5PM.   I love the trains of the Northeast.  The high speed line trip from Jersey to Center City is especially enjoyable for me because the trains use one of my all time favorite bridges to cross the Delaware River, The Ben Franklin Bridge.  The trains run along either side of the bridge.  As a passenger, you have two great choices for viewing entertainment, either the auto traffic on the bridge or the cities on either side of the river.  Both fascinate me.  I always get a nice smug feeling when I am able to gaze at the drivers while we pass them, knowing that their progress will soon be hampered by traffic and lights while I move freely towards my destination.  Before my trips into Center City, I always double check the traffic flow of the streets around my train stop.  I hate to admit it, but I'm spatially challenged in cities.  I carry a compass and usually written directions, which never seem to help me when I first enter the street from the below street level stations.  Knowing the directional flow of the traffic is my key to heading the right direction.
Feel familiar?

I knew when I saw this Starbucks that I was going to like it.  What a perfect location!  A corner spot with lots of big windows.  People watching!   I settled in at one of the small round tables next to the windows.  Writing my soldier's letter was going to be a breeze today,  the inspiration and material was just outside my window.  Being a cold day, most people were still wearing the dark colored heavy coats of winter.  It seemed to me that our scarves have become our color fashion statement when we are forced by nature to cover up.  Even men seem to not mind sporting some brightly colored or patterned scarf.  Once however, a woman appeared on the corner wearing a bright pink spring jacket, a crocus among the still brown blades of grass.

I hesitantly left my street entertainment and made my way over to Curtis just in time for the lecture.

COMFORT COMMENTS:  I found this Starbucks Coffee Shop to be a bit tight.  There was barely room to move between the tables along the windows, especially when both rows of tables were occupied.  There was only one or two comfy chairs near the front of the store.  If it had not been for the large windows  bringing the outside in to me, I would have felt uneasy in the small space.

SHOP CRITIQUE:  Bathroom and shop were both clean.

EMPLOYEE COMMENTS:  Very quiet group of employees.  It seem to me that they went about their jobs with full attention to what they were doing at the moment.  The condiments table was clean, which tells me someone was paying attention to details.  Nice!

INTERESTING AND INFORMATIONAL WEB-SITES:
*http://www.starbucks.com
*www.soldiersangels.org
*http://www.curtis.edu  (you, too, can become a friend.  just sign-up for emailings of events)
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Bridge
*http://www.ridepatco.org/about/history.html  (The USA needs more trains!)
*http://www.visitphilly.com/
*http://www.fashionscarvesandshawls.com/winterscarves.html  (soooo many choices)