Downtown Tucsonan - February 2009 - (Page 6) business spotlight Café 54 by Jim Lipson his summer café 54 will mark its five year anniversary as a downtown bistro. that means it has already outlived dozens of businesses that have come and gone since it first opened its doors in 2004. obviously the food must be good, the employees skilled, friendly and dependable, and there’s got to be a good business plan in place. what may not be as obvious, is that café 54 is the shining flagship enterprise of our Place clubhouse (oPc), a non-profit organization providing services and day programs for people with serious mental illness (sMIs). “I searched for a long time for a similar model for an upscale bistro/café,” said oPc’s Executive director, Mindy Bernstein, in a recent phone interview. “there was the café Phoenix in san Francisco, but that was in a working class neighborhood with mostly soups and sandwiches.” while café 54 always has two soups of the day and various salads, its menu, which changes regularly, features entrees like teriyaki salmon, new England lobster rolls and Portobello burgers. Bernstein says approximately 75 percent of the staff is made up of clients in training. unlike other sheltered workshop businesses and restaurants, she is proud of the fact that all the café’s trainee employees make minimum wage. “we borrowed heavily from the ‘club House model’ which is about people utilizing their skills and abilities and engaging in meaningful activities and relationships. If people with sMIs are working, they have fewer symptoms, less hospital time and their quality of life improves.” although partially subsidized by grants from the arizona Rehabilitation services administration and the community Partnership for southern arizona, café 54 does a brisk lunch business and is now beginning to generate significant income through its growing catering operation. “catering is getting huge,” says Bernstein. “we have the equipment, a catering manager and our prices are competitive and fair. Plus the trainees get to go places they’ve never been to before, like the foothills.” Laura coleman is one of the permanent staff that has been there since the café opened. “what I like most, “ she said, “is seeing people who previously thought of themselves as mentally ill, and now looking at themselves as, I have a mental illness and I am a pastry chef.” To learn more about Café 54, open from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., including its catering operation and mission statement, please visit them at cafe54.org. Youth documenting real-life stories. (110 Degrees Magazine/jackie enriquez) voices 54 E. Pennington St. T Zack Khalil, 17, is a senior at Tucson High Magnet School. train rumbled through downtown and its whistle brought me out of the indifference of sleep and back to my senses. I kept my eyes closed, taking a second to absorb the moment, the rise and fall of another chest, the consistency of warm breath. I felt stupid for noticing, because once I did, I separated myself from it. In the bed there were no longer two bodies intertwined, but suddenly mine and hers. It stopped being something to feel and became something to think about, more fodder for the indefatigable chatter of my mind. My eyes opened to a room lit exclusively by an alarm clock. It cast a faint red glow on the sheets that covered our bodies. I was warm and overly aware of the comfort that gripped me. For fear of something so beautiful as to erase me, I crawled out of the bed and crept quietly to the bathroom where I turned on the lights. I washed my face with cold water, and the word love came clearly to the front of my consciousness, so I said it. the air was pushed out of my lungs and shaken by the vibrations of my throat. I moved my tongue and the word was formed, then expelled from my mouth. the vibrating particles traveled the space from my mouth to my ear, and a series of electric impulses lit up my brain wherever the word love meant anything. Love became a woody allen movie I had seen too many times. It was all at once my family, an orgasm, and the pet parakeet that had died three years ago. It was the girl lying asleep in the bed in the next room, and the bubble that we existed in. It was overwhelming, but only if I let it be. with a newfound calculated composure I turned off the lights and closed the bathroom door behind me. I fell back into bed, into the soft space where I could accept the incalculable tumult of being alive. A A Va l e n t i n e ’ s C a b a r e t love Flam chen, tucson’s pyrotechnic theater troupe, presents an evening of whimsy and delight to celebrate the love of your life. a special Valentine’s day treat from Many Mouths one stomach, this event helps to complete the remaining financial obligation to the magnanimous all souls Procession weekend. Guests will include calle deBauche, the Mission creeps, Erin Garber Pearson sculptural installation and much much more! It’s all happening saturday, February 14 at tHE Hut, 305 n. 4th ave. doors open at 8pm. admission is $8.00. For more information, please visit www.flamchen.com or phone 520-272-9041. 6 downtown tucsonan.february.09 http://www.cafe54.org http://www.flamchen.com
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