I’ve written stories on airplanes, boats, trains, in the backseat of a Volkswagen van, in a basement closet, on the roof of a shitty student apartment, and in more coffee shops than I can count. I’ve written stories during lectures, and I’ve written them in my brain, which generally follows me around wherever I go, like some kind of bug.
The Huether Hotel was built in what is now called uptown Waterloo in 1844. It started out as a brewery and still has that component to it. There’s also a restaurant in the basement, with an arched stone section that was unearthed when they were trying to build a parking lot out back. There’s a jazz room, a pub upstairs, and a patio. In the side of the building, there’s a movie theatre. People used to actually live here, but I don’t think they do that anymore, even though there’s a sign advertising student accommodation. Someone told me one of the disjointed rooms in here used to be a strip club.
There’s a coffee shop called Cafe 1842 on the bottom floor. I’m there right now, writing this. You can see a photo from the interior above. This coffee shop is my favourite place in Waterloo to write, and I spend a lot of time here. It feels old. Historical. It doesn’t feel all that clean, or perfect, or at all modern. But it does feel like a lot of stories took place here.
I love the sense of age in the bricks. In the wood. The facade facing King Street, like it’s some kind of church, and maybe it was that too at one point, who knows? I can get great coffee here. I can get local beer. I can sit in the sunshine or under the stone arch in the basement, I can chat with locals, I can pretend that I’m being a productive writer, I can fire on all cylinders, I can stumble onto the sidewalk safe and sound and walk for an hour and a half home, even when it’s cold. I can do all that stuff.
If you’re ever in town, or you live here, come say hi.
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9 Responses
Wonderful, Trent. It looks like a most welcoming place to sit, to chat, to read, to write… I can understand why it’s your favourite place to write 🙂
This would be a good place to share a whiskey, by the way!
Thank you so much for sharing this. When I lived in Toronto I used to write at a café called the Istanbul. It was lovely, colourful, cozy, and served coffee Turkish style, with two bites of delight on the side. I could sit up front and watch people go by, or I could hide in the back if I really wanted to knuckle down. These days my favourite place to write is my home office, because everything in it – the furniture, the art on the walls, the smell of the incense i burn – is special to me, and means something to me. These days I go to coffee shops only when I want to listen to the city sing around me.
Is Istanbul still there? Sounds like a great place.
I have a good home office as well but it’s also where I work at times, so I like to split the things. I should get some incense… that would be a great addition.
It sort of is… it’s called something different now, but the interior and the goods they sell are virtually the same. I was there a few weeks ago and enjoyed a rose latte. It was packed with folks, some of whom were writing and others who were simply enjoying each other’s company.
I love the look of this place. You can feel things just looking at the photo. Now I know where we will finally meet.
Let’s do it!
Sounds like a place lost in time. With so many stories seeped into the walls, I can only imagine how inspired you feel there.
I’m there right now… it’s so amazing.