The location? Not so great. The hours? A surprisingly early closing time, considering the clientele. But the vibe—the vibe is welcoming, all-inclusive, inspirational and more. It’s an oversized-comfy-chairs, free-Internet, community-bulletin-boarded, local-authors-and-artists-friendly, angsty-acoustic-guitarist-in-the-corner kind of place, this ReJAVAnate Coffee Lounge, one that its new owners envision as a hotbed of local culture.
That’s an order as tall as the signature ReJavaChillers, but Hercules Cummings and John Abbasnezhad believe they have the discipline (the pair met in Navy boot camp) and the drive (both are recent graduates of ChoiceCenter leadership programs) to accomplish—in the spirit of the murals of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Bono and Martin Luther King near the bathroom—something that betters their environment. As Cummings puts it, “In a town where nightlife rules, this is a noncorporate, laid-back place where people with all sorts of backgrounds can hang out.”
“I come here all the time,” says the female half of a middle-aged working-class couple in for their usual 20-ounce caramel macchiatos. “I like the board games, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than Starbucks, I’ll tell you that!”
The budding entrepreneurs aren’t just spewing caffeine-spiked hippie-babble after taking over operations from previous owners Bruce Ewing and Greg Davis in mid-June; already they’ve crammed ReJAVAnate’s weekly calendar with free poetry, films, comedy, video-game tourneys, karaoke, performances by local and touring musicians and more. They’ve established partnerships with the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas Peace Meetup, and future events include knitting-, chess-, astrology- and psychiatry-themed gatherings.
“We’re also about pursuing health and wellness through food, with sugar-free and zero-trans-fats options and protein and vitamin shots available,” Cummings adds, as the overhead sound system, set to Music Choice’s ’80s channel, segues from “Wind Beneath My Wings” to “I Think We’re Alone Now.”
Business has already increased, requiring the addition of two employees to the roster of five, as well as serious feedback evaluations. “We’ve especially heard from students wanting to study late,” Cummings concedes. “Right now we’re looking at expanding Friday and Saturday hours until 11 starting in September, then until 1 if it works.” After all, it’s not just him and Abbasnezhad who are looking to shake things up: “ReJAVAnate is just a vehicle. It’s not just a coffee lounge; it’s a community lounge. But it’s nothing without the community.”
3300 E. Flamingo Road (at Pecos), in the Renaissance III Shopping Plaza. 253-7721, rejavanatecoffee.com.