12:15am | They probably don’t see it, but whenever I’m talking to business owners around town—especially small-business owners—in my eye there is a glint of wonder and admiration. I could never have the heart or stomach to take on such venture. Even were success guaranteed, I couldn’t do it.
It was through such a glint that I started looking at Birdcage Coffee House a couple of months ago, particularly after overhearing an exchange between a customer and owner Eleno Machuca. “I could really use a cup of coffee,” the woman said, “but I don’t have any money today.” Without hesitation Machuca provided the beverage—and a few kinds words. That act was consistent with the vibe I’d been getting about the place, and so I thought it worth looking at a little more closely.
Located over on 4th St. less than two blocks west of Pine Ave. (more or less catty-corner to the beautiful Walker Building), the Birdcage is a bit incongruous to the neighborhood. It’s the kind of establishment you expect in the East Village or on Retro Row, but not so much here.
Machuca didn’t care about that. He’d been eyeing the spot for a long time before getting the chance to open the Birdcage in July 2009. “A lot of people think this is a strange place for a coffeehouse,” he says. “[But] the city is changing, and I thought this was going to be the perfect location, with all these new buildings coming up.”
He’s not talking just about his hopes that business will grow over time—as you’ll read below, money is clearly not Machuca’s main motivator—but about his desire to help re-create his immediate world as a better one.
To that end, unlike standard operating procedure at most coffeehouses, Machuca doesn’t mind if people bring their own food into the Birdcage (even though he does offer baked goods and other edibles for sale); and he doesn’t require a minimum purchase—or any purchase—to use the Birdcage’s Wi-Fi signal.
Perhaps that’s not the best business model… unless your main business is something that money alone can’t buy. “I’m trying to improve the community,” he relates. “This is my community; it’s where I live. […] People need a place to go, so I give them one.”
Machuca is also willing to open up the Birdcage to host events, meetings, etc.—at no charge, of course. He’s gone so far as to put on free events, such as a Saturday-night movie series that ran for several months and a recent eight-week course in sign language that took place every Friday. “For me it’s very exciting when I see a full house,” he says. “All I [ask] is just for people to respect the place.”
Councilmember Robert Garcia frequently holds meetings at the Birdcage, which is located in his First District. “It’s a great neighborhood spot,” Garcia says. “We’re happy to have it there. […] Eleno’s a great guy.”
To help Machuca help transform the neighborhood, Garcia told me a couple of months ago that he was working to get an additional 24-minute parking zone proximate to the Birdcage, as well as one of those bike racks that are being installed all over the city. “He’s trying to invest in a tough economy,” Garcia says. “We’re hoping to help him out.” (Garcia has since delivered on both counts.)
Machuca knew it was going to be rough going economically when he opened. (He hasn’t had money to spare for advertising and so relies on word of mouth.) But what he didn’t expect was that his being part of the gay community would make things even rougher. This is Long Beach, after all, home of Gay Pride. But Machuca found that not all areas of the city are equally equality-minded. “A couple of months after I first open, I thought it would be good to have a ‘gay night,’ to have a night for the gay community. Mistake. I lost more than 50 percent of my customers. […] Some of my neighbors didn’t talk to me no more. One of them confronted me in the doorway [of the Birdcage]. ‘How are you expecting to have a lot of customers with gay people around?’ he say to me. ‘This is not a gay area.’ But I don’t care about what those people say or do.”
Contrary to what one might guess, the inspiration for the Birdcage’s name is not the La cage aux folles remake starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane; rather, it’s all about birds, which to Machuca are living expressions of freedom. “No one tells a bird where to fly,” he says.
And so the emblem of Machuca’s coffeehouse is a birdcage—an empty birdcage, a symbol of non-confinement and the ability to self-determine, to will your own path.
Machuca prides himself on his freedom and independence, and he is employing those qualities in the attempt not only to self-determine, but also to transform his community into one that he and his neighbors can more happily inhabit.
It’s a good lesson in the business of living.
Birdcage Coffee House is located at 224 W. 4th St. (just west of Pacific Ave.). Hours are 7 a.m.–8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
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