timesarticl

Uncommon Grounds:

Where the coffee is hot

and the space is cool

By: Michael Pound - Times Staff

05/12/2007

The Times/SALLY MAXSON

Uncommon Grounds Cafe manager John Stanley

helps calm down three-year-old Nevin Canello.

The personal interaction and strong connection

to the surrounding community are a few elements

that helped the cafe win a Cool Space award.

ALIQUIPPA - Even without the benefit of an official designation, there's no question that Uncommon Grounds is a cool space.

The Aliquippa coffeehouse at 380 Franklin Ave. would be right at home in hipper Pittsburgh neighborhoods such as the South Side. Bright swaths of red and purple paint accent the walls, and exposed ductwork serves as a reminder of the city's industrial past. The smell of rich, roasted coffee mingles with grilling chicken and kielbasa. Books, newspapers and board games cover the built-in shelves.

Unofficially, Uncommon Grounds has been cool since it opened nearly two years ago. But now it's official, as well - a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that promotes urban revitalization included it on its list of the region's 10 Coolest Spaces.

But is it the colorful interior and the coffee that makes it cool, or is it something else? John Stanley, the cafe's 42-year-old founder, thinks it's deeper than paint and panini.

"We wanted a space that stimulated creativity, that brought comfort and support to an area that needed it," Stanley said. "And we wanted to show there is hope for Franklin Avenue, that we could start small and use that as a springboard to bigger things."

A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP

The concept for Uncommon Grounds - at least part of it - was simple: reuse one of the old Franklin Avenue storefronts, transforming it into a welcoming cafe, with good coffee, fresh sandwiches, conversation and community.

Oh, and sparking the rebirth of a city many thought had died along with its steel mills.

Stanley, a native of Sydney, Australia, was brought to the United States by Church Army, an Episcopal missionary group. His plan was to create a "listening space" where patrons would be stimulated to draw, paint, play music and write poetry - and learn something about themselves along the way.

There were plenty of doubters at the outset. Stanley admits to his own misgivings, which started the day after he bought the two-story building for $1,000.

"We bought it, and the next day the whole facade collapsed onto the sidewalk," he said, grinning. "It was condemned by the city a day later."

That was in 2001. It took hundreds of volunteers four years to complete the renovation: "We did a $1 million renovation for $200,000, and we got churches that didn't even know the other existed to start working together," he said.

Uncommon Grounds brought a lot of other people together, as well. Some move from attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings on the second floor to cooking behind the counter; teens in rehab serving their community service sentences regularly work in the garden - and continue coming back when their sentences are done.

"Inclusion has been one of the things we've strived to do here," Stanley said. "When you do that, you give people a sense of ownership in what they're working on.

That's the big-picture goal, as well: giving Aliquippa a sense of ownership in its own city.

"Aliquippa experienced a cataclysmic shock a couple of decades ago, and it's still grieving over that," he said. "We do what we do here to show what is possible for Aliquippa in the future."

DEALING WITH CONFRONTATIONS

Uncommon Grounds hasn't been immune to the violence that has plagued the city recently, both inside and outside its doors. One of the five homicides in the city last year happened at 276 Franklin Ave., almost across the street from the cafe.

Inside, there have been a few arguments, and one confrontation between a patron and city police, Stanley said.

"We had been dealing with that guy for six months, but one night he really got out of control," he said. "The police came, and he punched one of the officers; he got Tazed and taken away."

That's the only time in Uncommon Grounds' two-year history that an argument has turned physical, in part, Stanley said, because the cafe's volunteers are trained to deal with confrontations.

When they do occur, arguments are often turned into teaching moments, said volunteer Nancy O'Leary, another Church Army missionary.

"A lot of times we're able to help people figure out a little bit about themselves and what might be the real cause of the confrontation," O'Leary said. "We don't like to see (confrontations) here, but they've never really escalated into something we couldn't deal with."

Stanley adds simply: "Sometimes you need to get a little bit out of control before you can get in touch with the bigger issues."

One premise of Uncommon Grounds is that the cafe is open to anyone, even those with criminal records.

"We know the people who come in here. We know the drug dealers, and they know that we're aware who they are," Stanley said. "We try to set boundaries about what can be done here, and we hold people to those standards. We make them accountable for their actions."

The open-door policy has led to some interesting situations, like one when three of the city's biggest dealers walked in for a drink while a couple of city officers were inside, as well.

"The police were a little concerned. They said 'Do you know who those guys are?' " Stanley said. "I told them that our job together is to stop the spread of drugs in Aliquippa. Their part of the job is to catch those guys, and my part of the job is to help them transform their lives."

A SPRINGBOARD TO REBIRTH?

At 49, Claude Smitherman is old enough to remember what Franklin Avenue used to look like. Evenings with people walking to restaurants after taking in a movie. Saturday afternoons when the avenue was teeming with people shopping. Storefronts all filled with successful businesses.

"This place is a good step," said Smitherman, seated at a single table on the sidewalk in front of Uncommon Grounds on a warm afternoon. "But we didn't have anything like it back in the day."

An Aliquippa native, Smitherman is happy it's there now.

"The coffee's great, for one, and I get some almost every day," he said. "I like the people here - John's a great guy - and I like the atmosphere.

"I was amazed the first time I came in after it was done. The amount of work they put into really showed. And now it's just a nice, relaxing place where you talk with people you see here every day."

Could it be, as Stanley envisions, a springboard to a reborn Franklin Avenue?

"It could be," Smitherman said. "If you get enough people coming down here, you might see some interest in bringing in some new stores. That's what this area needs, and maybe (Uncommon Grounds) is what will get that started."

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Aliquippa High School student Alex Tyson, a regular, voiced perhaps the one bit of concern for the future: "It would be a shame if John and Alison had to leave."

The Stanleys, both Australian citizens, are in the United States on work visas; those documents expire at the end of the year. They've filed for extensions and are awaiting word from the federal immigration service on the outcome.

While they wait, plans continue. Improvements to the adjacent garden are under way, and the Stanleys' army of volunteers is about to start work on a park and playground, just east of the cafe.

Alison Stanley said that work will continue one way or another; they have prepared for the possibility that they will be forced to leave, even as they hope to stay.

"One of John's goals has been to get people ready for that," she said. "We've been training Nancy (O'Leary) and some others, so they'll be able to run the cafe and keep everything going if we have to go."

"It would be in good hands," John Stanley said. "My concern is to make sure the momentum continues - it takes such energy to keep things moving, and if there's a pause, even a temporary one, it will take a lot of work to get started again."

Is the job done? Even in the midst of their undeniably cool cafe, both say it's not.

"The rebirth of Aliquippa isn't done yet," John Stanley said. "We're not either."

Michael Pound can be reached online at mpound@timesonline.com.

'You really feel welcome'

Aliquippa High School students Nakeya Mosley, Alex Tyson and Amber Yoho are seated around one of tables in Uncommon Grounds; a gigantic chocolate milkshake and a mostly-eaten chicken panini have been pushed aside in favor of a Scrabble board.

Tyson, 16, says he's winning; the girls laugh and roll their eyes.

"This is what we like about coming here," Tyson said, taking a swig from a bottle of Jones Soda. "You get to relax for a minute, get something to eat or something to drink."

"We'll start coming in here more, now that's it's getting warm again," Mosley, 17. "We need more places like this here; there isn't a lot of things for people our age to do."

What makes Uncommon Grounds attractive to teens? Mosley and Yoho laugh and say "milkshakes" almost simultaneously; Tyson said he loves the Shrimp Nish sandwich.

But then: "It's comfortable; you really feel welcome," Mosley said. "John and Alison (Stanley), I've known them since I was in sixth grade; they greet you by name. So it feels good to come in here."

A community-service component

For Sean Capperis, Uncommon Grounds' designation as a cool space is personal as well as professional. Capperis is the special-projects manager for Cool Space Locator, the Pittsburgh organization that handed out the awards; he said Uncommon Grounds earned the honor largely for its mission.

"It's not necessarily for the space itself, but for what it does," Capperis said. "The community-service component of Uncommon Grounds is what really makes them a good fit with the rest of the group. It's something that's needed in Aliquippa, and they've done an excellent job of providing it."

Cool Space Locator touts itself as a nonprofit group that seeks to help businesses locate in "urban, walkable neighborhoods." Capperis said the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh is a good example of what can happen when businesses are willing to take a chance on a neighborhood that many have given up for dead.

"East Liberty was totally ravaged by the urban renewal efforts of the 1960s and '70s; it's a pretty vibrant area now, certainly when compared to what it was 20 years ago," he said. "You could see something like that in Aliquippa too, but it will require a lot of patience before it happens."

But, Capperis cautions, those looking for a return to Aliquippa's good old days are likely to be disappointed.

"We're talking about a different approach; businesses that have a creative way of looking at things," he said. "You can see those kinds of successes on Franklin Avenue, but the expectations have to be different. It's not going to be the same as it was."

Capperis has a personal stake in this, as well. He grew up in Aliquippa, living in Plan 12 until his family moved to Hopewell Township when he was 9. He recently stopped by the cafe to pick up a cup of coffee after visiting his family.

"I loved it," he said. "It was on one of their movie nights, and the place was just packed.

"It's really gratifying to me to see something like that thriving in Aliquippa. It really does make you think a little bit about what it could become."