Good question or so it seems because I’ve been asked more than once, “Why Café Society?”
Why not? Is this being over thought? Well, to be honest, I did put some little thought into it. Café didn’t sound right. So I added Society. It was hip. Fizzing. The cats meow. Copacetic. And also because Café Society has a place in history. It is an honorable tradition that deserves to be reborn and maintained. Like reading after graduation, a tradition that has fallen out of style or so I’m told. Thank heaven FCLIR members are keeping that tradition alive.
Café Society described groups of attractive (and aren’t we all attractive in our own way) people and “Bright Young Things” (If you are a member of FCLIR, you’re certainly playing with a full deck. And if 75 is the new 50 and 50 is the new 30, we’re all spring chickens) who gathered in cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris and London beginning in the late 19th century. An American journalist who was a famous society columnist for the New York Journal—American Maury Henry Biddle Paul, nom de plume Cholly Knickerbocker—is credited with coining the phrase “café society” in 1915.
A Café Social is a gathering of Café Society members in an eatery where one can enter freely (the only membership requirement is that you show up), enjoy coffee, tea, and refreshments at a very reasonable price. And most importantly, enjoy each others company.
See you at Pulse restaurant in Hadley the first Thursday of the month at 2 PM. At our first meeting on February 1 we can start by discussing if Pulse, Thursday, 2 PM needs rethinking.
Austin Porter
