Closure: Mills End Cafe

[Vex Harrow]

Much to my surprise and chagrin, I discovered that Mills End Cafe has closed. This is the café that quietly existed near the end of Mill proper (for those who actually wander all the way down to the Tempe Fake Lake.) It served a multitude of cultural resources from poetry nights to open air mic and other extremely wonderful venues. The coffee certainly seemed overpriced at times, but the nature of the company made the place more than worth it Friday and Saturday nights.

Seeing yet another cornerstone of Mill Ave culture vanish in a puff of smoke is not fun.

However, there have been other advances in actually bringing more people to the Ave.

This also comes on the heels of the light rail exit being installed there. It struck me that Mills End had been positioned quite nicely to capture traffic from the newly touted light rail, but apparently not enough to keep it alive. A great deal of food and retail outlets on Mill have been suffering from a reduction of interest due to the Tempe Marketplace. Although, I haven’t seen enough reports on their closure to know exactly the nature of their demise.

I will try to outline some of the other new people and things that have appeared amidst us in the meantime. Change has been too much nostalgia here.

[wrmachine]

Hello everyone! I do not know where to begin but hope this site will be useful for me.
In first steps it's very nice if somebody supports you, so hope to meet friendly and helpful people here. Let me know if I can help you.
Thanks and good luck everyone!

[Vex Harrow]

Very happy to talk to people who don't turn out to be spambots. Post and be happy, I'm around, more Mill Ave news coming.

[mskhirakutwo]

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough." - Albert Einstein !



what is the point of this quote ?

[Josh]

I gotta sya that I dont get around to mill avevery often (read: never), but every time i drive past the offramp on my way hime form work, i think about this site haha. Such a bummer that gone are the days of the mom & pop shop. I used to hang out at this awesome book shop when I was a kid. They never had the book I was looking for in stock, I always had to put in an order and wait 1-2 weeks every time I wanted something lol. I remember how anxious I used to get waiting for a book to show up, then how exciting it was when I hopped on my bike to cruise down and get it when it finally came in. Good times.

[Vex Harrow]

I agree!

I love the Mom & Pop atmosphere that Mill Ave supported. The upscaling the city did on the whole affair has really done a number on the atmosphere and culture.

However, maybe with all of the closures and the empty spaces they'll lighten up on that and give more reasons to have smallish shops taking spots that they can; thus creating a desire for more foot traffic, and give a reason for a big store to once again get into the Brick Yard or where Z-Gallery used to stand.

The emergence and glow of MADCAP and the small Farmer's Garden Market (name escapes me) things could be rolling in that direction; but the loss of places like End of Mill doesn't bode too well for the old hipster entertainment environment.

We'll see.