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Charlestown Street Cafe reopens

By Steve Shay

Monday, July 07, 2008

Summer has finally returned, and so has the Charlestown Street Cafe. The popular family diner and meeting place reopened Monday at 6am to the delight of its loyal customers and servers, some who have worked there since it opened 19 years ago.

The cafe was forced to close after a kitchen fire February 4. Insurance, landlord-tenant issues, and autocracy delayed the reopening.

"They can't believe it's really happening," said server Hesper Guerra, who was there since the restaurant opened the first time.

"I had Mickey Mouse pancakes. They were just as good as before," enthused Anja Vanderhijde, 6, who walked two blocks from home to the cafe with her big brother, Grant, 8, and their father, Steve.

"Trolley's used to pass here on California Avenue," recalled Ted Hansen pointing out the cafe window. He returned to Charlestown for breakfast with his wife, Doris, after its five-month hiatus. "I was on the trolley going from one junction to the other. The conductor was 'a hoopin' and 'a hollerin', and that's when I found out that Joe Louis knocked out (Max) Schmeling in their second fight. I remember three service stations here. The one on this corner became a little hamburger stand."

For co-owner Larry Mellum the big day was not just about nostalgia, but about a new beginning, too.

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