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March 2, 2008
Nova Express Cafe to Close This Week
Photos by Zach Behrens/LAist
It's a sad day week for those who frequent Fairfax Village, for those who need a late-night nosh alternative to Canter's Deli, or for those who love some vegan pizza -- Nova Express Cafe announced (letter below) that they are closing their doors this Wednesday at 2 a.m. (not be too confusing, that would officially be Thursday, 3 hours in).
According to Cary Long, the owner of the Sci-Fi 15-year-old establishment, the location will soon be an Italian sandwhich shop, minus the aliens, blacklights, comics, toys, art and music. Financial difficulties are the cause and a direction in Long's life may have made the transition a little easier -- he is pursuing a career as a sculptor.
To that, he says, "if I make it as a successful artist, I will try to get another Nova up."
Earlier on LAist
-- Late Night Eats: Nova Express Cafe
-- The Neighborhood Project: Fairfax Village
-- LAist's Late Night Eats Series
E-Mail from Nova Express Cafe to blast list
The Nova Express Cafe has existed to make the claim that a unique artistic cafe is an important part of the cultural ecology of the modern urban landscape.Essentially, Nova Express Cafe is an art project designed to explore the parameters of how a kind of art, based on the importance of community and generally motivated by an idea of fun, can function in society.
However, The Nova Express Cafe has existed outside the normal channels of either capital investment or art world patronage and now faces severe economic difficulties. The cafe will be closing Wednesday, March 5.
The last fifteen years have been a great romantic adventure! Thanks and goodbye!
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NooooOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOoooooo!!!!!!!!!
*dies a little inside*
Sucks. Its a cool coffee shop I'd frequent if closer by, and one of the last of the coffee shops I'd hang out at when I first moved to L.A.
But wouldn't three hours into Thursday be 3am?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great Cthulhu! This town is going to hell in a handbasket, one old-school institution at a time. First Max's became the Dime, then this? What's happened to the Fairfax I used to know and love?
For christ's sake, hang on, Domiano's.
This is really sad.
I was just around there yesterday... I was going to go in but... The only place that has empanadas that has no relation to Argentina. A little hint... Next door is Damiano's Pizza that has Fugazzetta (argentine style onion pizza).
Live long and prosper, my Nova.
I must admit, I find it quite ironic that this restaurants mission was to "make the claim that a unique artistic cafe is an important part of the cultural ecology of the modern urban landscape." Wake up call: It's absolutely not important, by any stretch of the imagination! In fact, any business that caters to sci-fi geeks and the minimum wage/underemployed/unemployed demographic in general is destined to fail when the financial realities of the real world kick in!
I must admit, I find it quite ironic that this restaurants mission was to "make the claim that a unique artistic cafe is an important part of the cultural ecology of the modern urban landscape." Wake up call: It's absolutely not important, by any stretch of the imagination! In fact, any business that caters to sci-fi geeks and the minimum wage/underemployed/unemployed demographic in general is destined to fail when the financial realities of the real world kick in!
This is the first I heard of this... two days AFTER the doors permanently closed! I wasn't an every week kind of customer, but I sure had my share of Nova's fantastic chicken pesto sandwiches. In fact, their food was far, far better than it has any reason to be. I sometimes wonder if the cartoony sci-fi atmosphere kept many people from taking it seriously as a place to eat and drink as well as to hang out post-rave.
Anyway, this is very depressing. And I hope the Italian sandwich shop that's moving in isn't a chain. Damiano's right down the block has plenty good Italian sandwiches, thank you very much.
P.S. @ iamnot07 -- I suppose the "financial realties" of modern capitalism would dicatate that all coffee places should turn into Starbucks. But is that really the kind of city you want to live in? Not me, man. Not me.