Flipping It
It's hard to pinpoint what we find most compelling about Guerilla Cafe in Berkeley, California: it might be the artistically served waffles, pastries, and sandwiches. Or it might be the urban, funky-chic vibe making copious use of browns, olives, turquoises, and oranges to lend it the--in their words--"70s retro atmosphere." Or it could be that the cafe also serves up a line of t-shirts, track jackets, wrist bands, and messenger bags all emblazoned with their gorilla/guerilla logo. Generally, we think it's the fact that Andrea Ali, Keba Konte, and Rachel Konte have created a spot that's as much about the art and design as about the cafe proper. We go in for that kind of thing.
All three founders are artists in their own right: Andrea is a ceramacist, Keba is a photographer and mixed-media artist, and Rachel is a graphic designer, which clearly informs the cafe's art-saturated vibe. We dig the fact, for example, that when you place your order, instead of getting a number you get a portrait of one of the cafe's heroes, including Bruce Lee, John Coltrane, Muhammad Ali, Bob Marley, Assata Shakur, and Nina Simone among others.
Guerilla Cafe took over Smokey Joe's Cafe, a vegetarian landmark in Berkeley since 1973, and transformed it with a 360-degree remodel completed last May. (We're told that "Smoky Joe" Ned Getline went on to a happy retirement.) The new spot rotates art exhibits approximately every six weeks and is currently showing the mixed media assemblages of Githinji Wa Mbire.
13 September 2006