Great American Roadsice Cafés Bellingham

Tony´s Coffee, Bellingham , WA

BELLINGHAM, WA - Twenty miles south of the Canadian border on Interstate Highway 5 sits Bellingham (Pop. 70,000). The city center can be exited at exit 254 but if one wanted to catch the weekly ferry boat to Alaska they would exit at 250 and follow Old Fairhaven Parkway. At the corner of Harris and 11th, instead of continuing on Harris down to the ferry terminal, if the mood struck for a hot cup of coffee, one could stop at Tony\'s Coffee in the Fairhaven District.
On a recent rainy, blustery day I stuck my head inside the front door of Tony\'s Coffee for some relief from the very un-April like weather. Bellingham is the home of Western Washington University, which sits a mile of so to the east and at first glance I thought Tony\'s was a typical student hangout because of all the portraits hung on a wall, most of whom looked young enough to be students. But the clientele was clearly a mix of everyday people enjoying the friendly atmosphere to chat with a friend or read a book or pour over some lecture notes.
Alan Rhodes, 68, semi-retired and writer, is typical. He calls Phoenix, Arizona his hometown but now lives full-time in Bellingham. He writes a column for a weekly newspaper. When asked what the first thing he would do if he was President tomorrow morning He answered, \"Design a massive plan to put people back to work in America.\"
He thought the number one problem in America was, \"Lack of a universal health care system and corporations taking too much control over our government.\"
He\'s calls himself a heavy reader and his favorite American authors are William Faulkner and Phillip Roth.
Lucas Walker, 36, Friday Harbor, is an unemployed woodworker. If he was made

Alan Rhodes         Lucas Walker

Marc Murawski        Connie Fryman

President tomorrow morning his first official act would be \"Stop all the wars.\"
His idea of the number one problem in American today is \"Lack of good physical work.\" No doubt he had in mind work in the construction trades.
Marc Murawski 43, structural engineer, calls Bad Ax, Michigan his hometown and has been living in Bellingham off and on for the last two decades, and also some time in the Seattle area working for Boeing. He was reading a book on computers when I interrupted him and asked him what the first thing he would do if he was President in the morning. Without hesitation he answered, \"Abolish the Federal Reserve.\"
As for what he thought was the number one problem in America he was equally forceful, \"The overwhelming apathy of Americans about what is causing our problems and their lack of willingness to study both our problems and the solution.\"

Murawski, is a world traveler and when I asked if he\'d ever been in Plzen, I was sure
he probably wouldn\'t have any idea of where it was. But he said, \"Sure, I\'ve been there twice, the first time in 1991 and the beer was great. Just like they advertise it. Everything was incredibly cheap then.\"
I smiled. \"It\'s not cheap now, but the beer is still good.\"
Murawski regaled me for an hour with his offbeat tales of globetrotting in such places as Siberia, Rumania and China. He isn\'t certain about his future in Bellingham or Washington State, \"It depends on the economy. I\'ve taken a beating here lately, I\'d like to stay but it depends on the economy. You know what I mean?\"
I nodded.
Connie Frymark, 40, (Nurse?) housewife, grew up in a small town in Eastern Washington was reading a novel when I broke into her space. She now lives in Eastview, Kentucky, where her husband is stationed in the Army. Her daughter is a student at Western Washington University and she is visiting. As President she\'d, \"Bring our troops home immediately.\"
When asked what she thought was the number one problem today, she became thoughtful. \"It seems we have so many problems that it\'s hard to pick just one or the biggest one. But too many Americans are out of work and that\'s not good. With all of our resources we should be able to create work for them.\"
Tony\'s Coffee is joined to a restaurant by an inner passage and with the 33 seats in Tony\'s and the 100 seats in the restaurant it\'s larger than it looks from the outside. No one working in the restaurant could think of a famous name or personality who had eaten there. Although someone thought that there was a man who once was a supporting actor on the Drew Carey Show was from Bellingham and had eaten there.
The restrooms are small, but clean.
I slipped back outside into the wind and drizzle that seemed more like winter than spring. Across the street was the Village Bookstore where I was told there was a café on the second floor with a splendid view of the harbor. I leaned into the wind and crossed the street and ducked into the

Village Bookstore. I was also told it was the biggest and best store in Bellingham. It was
impressive on the inside, but I prefer smaller more cozy sized bookstores. Yet the view from the café on the second floor was spectacular and I enjoyed another cup of coffee to savor the view. Bellingham deserved more time than I had to give it. In summer weather it must be spectacular.
I\'d give Tony\'s 8 stars out of 10 for atmosphere and 6 for quality of menu. Much better than average on a windy, rainy day.

Roger Burke is a novelist

Among his books are the
widely praised Just Another
Roadside Café (2010). His
newest novel, Wilson\'s
Exile, will be released in
2011.
bohemiaburke@hotmail.com
All rights reserved 2011