Mather's-- More Than a Cafe

I've been practicing for the golden years for so long now, that when I finally get to be officially old I'm truly gonna  be hip for the first time in my life. It seems like most of the times my friends trust me to call the shots, we end up (unintentionally) surrounded by seniors- listening to local history lectures at the Cultural Center, swaying to the blues on the far south side, sharing half bottles of vodka during polka night at Podlasie Club, learning how to play dominoes in the former movie palace on Pulaski.

My latest adventure involved a solo visit to a lecture on the glorious and highly Polish history of my beloved neighborhood of Avondale. Of course I found myself in a roomful of seniors. This "more than a cafe" targets the 50+ crowd, but the hostess and the cashier at the cafe were super welcoming and glowing with a love of life. I picked up a 55 cent cup of coffee and some breakfast here to go with my lecture (though the burgers looked decent). Prices were super reasonable, but next time I'm going to wear a powdered wig so I can get the senior discount and save even more.

In addition to the food and occasional lectures, there's a bank of computers with internet access, and you can watch seniors run on treadmills in a glass "fishbowl" room in between the cafe and the community room. Normally my favorite part about hanging with seniors is overhearing a dose of irreverent, brutal honesty from someone who no longer worries about what other people think of them (like the time at symphony hall when the seventy something shouted out, "this is awful, this is killing me!" in the middle of a classical concert)- but there didn't seem to be any of that charming crankiness here. Which means Mather is successful in their goal of creating a social center and a learning center for seniors.

This may not be the place for me today, but if I was in my 50s, I'd probably be here all the time.