Today, I am pleasantly posed on a little padded bench on the corner of Pandosy & Lawrence Street, in downtown Kelowna. No worries, I have not taken up residence with the few other less fortunate souls who frequent just one block over. I am indoors. Indoors, at Pulp Fiction, the quaint, if not somewhat quirky, coffee shop whose address is actually 1598 Pandosy Street.
I don't always frequent this coffee shop per say. And I am not a coffee purist. I do like to support local merchants & small businesses in the valley. However, I would be first to admit that I really enjoy a cup of Starbucks, on occasion, too. I do have my fave coffee house in Kelowna, & they who shan't be named, know who they are…
Today, however, while my hubby is across the street at his newly trusted barber, who, by the way, is female, I sit happily in the sunny window of Pulp Fiction Coffee House. (The word "barber," by the way, is a common gender noun, & therefore, has no masculine or feminine forms. Bet you didn't think you would get a grammar lesson along with the blog today, huh!!)
Among all the delightful quirks of this place is the fact that they have a resident guard dog. I think that "guard dog" would be taking the description abruptly too far. Robbie sits/lays obediently across the entrance to Robbie Rare Books, which is his namesake - or viceversa. He is so well-trained that he, never once, crosses the line into what is the coffee shop area of the business. If you stop, for but a minute, as any dog-lover would, & pay him some attention, he, at once, assumes the belly-rubbing pose. What a delight! And, if you venture past the guard dog, you will find yourself swallowed up by a book collection so magnificent that Earnest Hemingway would surely find himself in repose. Max Sloan, the owner, will take any time you have, to show you around or elaborate on any of the works he has acquired & collected, over the years. The collection, so extensive, that only a small part of it takes residence here, at Pulp Fiction. He has two offsite storage locations to house his complete & vast collection. There are first edition copies behind glass, old & rare hard covers, shelves & shelves of rare & eclectic paperbacks, but, the crowning jewel of the place would be the zealous array of Pulp Fiction novels dating back to the 40 & 50's. I am not savvy, at all, on this genre, but I can feast & fill my eyes with the shear art of it all. What a magnificent collection, lacking subtlety of any kind - the colours so diverse & the titles unapologetic! The regular fiction collection dates back to books from the 1880's & only includes ones as new as 1965.
And if one is willing to touch on art as a subject matter of the house, you will be wowed! Art deco & nouveau are the primary focus of this committed collector, spanning 1880 - 1950. And framed, enlarged paperback book-covers, wow the walls hung alongside the odd pop of gutsy magazine pages…nostalgia in immeasurable quantities. The bookstore boasts antique statuary, clocks, busts, dishes, tins…wares from so many different eras. The statues & ornaments alone date 1820 - 1940.
While sitting, writing & enjoying the stimulating environment of Pulp Fiction, I have also been sipping on a most-enjoyable Soy Americano Misto. The beverages are not the least of which reason you would stop in here. The coffee is locally sourced, & rates to me, above average. The take-out cup, most artistic and ubiquitous, as is the whole store. Darrell enjoyed a cup of the Metropolitan brand tea, alongside me, when he showed up all newly groomed, as I tried to finish up.
The clientele are as varied as the themes in the shop. Some in suits, others in laid-back Saturday apparel, some are the young trendseekers & others, like me, so obviously suburban. All are seeking the same coffee shop offerings; camaraderie, community, friendship, reunion, the deal - only here can you also qualify for a shopping experience so surreal you would think you wandered in off a New York side street.
The decor fits perfectly well and only adds to the ambiance at Pulp. The chrome chairs & small diner-style tables fill the main floor. Black leather benches fitted in under the windows make room for more seating & natural light for reading. A big, eclectic brick fireplace is the focal point, in the room, strangely, not competing with the rest of the show. A neat little feature appreciated, by more female patrons than myself, I am sure, is the quaint addition of a purse shelf, at the counter, where you order & pay. Many little nooks are carved out, in the small shop, where 1 or 2 could sit, surrounded with the timeless shelves of words. Antique couches, chairs & benches are the furniture in Robbie Rare Books, of course. Every square inch of the shop is well appointed & tasteful. Even in all of its apparent impossibility, the antiques & bookstore is known, in its entirety, by Mr. Sloan, who could seek out anything available, instantaneously.
The staff are all dressed in their Pulp Fiction attire. Nothing of trendy schtick, but rather, crisply pressed, colourful button downs, silkscreened with the same paperback art aforementioned. Even the business cards for the different facets, of the marketplace, that exist here, have the same unique artwork on them. Come for the friendly staff, the delicious coffee & light food-fare and receive an experience so rare that even Robbie would approve.
