Cruisin' A-hunnert: 24-hour Starbucks

I'm at the aforementioned Starbucks.  What a remarkable place!  The average age in the room is probably 24.  Gadgetry is wielded effortlessly: laptops are surfed upon, digital snapshots are taken frequently, cell phones are in hand.  I'm housesitting for my parents in Glendale tonight--clear across town--but the North Shore rolls up the sidewalks at 10, so there's no place for me to go there.  The North Shore suburbs, despite their resident wealth, seem to be on the wrong side of a demographic and technological divide that's underestimated and perhaps over-powerful.  The technology of the North Shore is, in my mind, the newspaper (aack!), the television (eek!) and the large-screen theatrical movie (yuck!).  The technology of today and tomorrow is the portable, interactive content transmission and delivery device--whether it takes the form of a cell phone, laptop or multifunctional iPhone.  I think this also lends itself to thinking of oneself at home wherever one is.  I'd imagine that the young crowd here arrives at this crossroads from widely scattered workplaces and residences.

I'm drinking green tea, which tastes like basically nothing to me.  It was the only way I could think of (without drinking coffee) to not be saddled with a paper cup.  I've ordered for-here cups here before and had the request overlooked.  For all its technological savvy that I rhapsodize about, the younger generation needs a sense of finiteness.  That's the kind of sensibility that steers a person away from three fast-casual take-out meals and multiple packaged snacks per day, with the accompanying flood of garbage.  And need I even mention that all of them are charged to the newly acquired credit card?

Comments

[Kittymoose]

I've worked at that store before, and believe me, it is my absolute favorite. I love hanging out there too, since I'm a night owl and the only other thing to do around here is George Webbs. Plus, during school, it's really nice to do some homework with a delicious vanilla soy latte, nice ambient sound, and in what appears to be an academic environment ;)