Atticus in Spokane for fresh coffee and old books
(Photo by Cheryl-Anne Millsap)
There are places I go for coffee, places I go to shop for vintage treasures and places I go to find something new to bring home to read. In the case of Atticus Coffee and Gifts, the sister store to Boo Radley's, just down the street, I can do all three.
In my column in the latest issue of Spokane CdA Woman magazine I wrote about finding a 1909 English-language guidebook to Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany. Written for those taking a "grand tour," it listed historical facts about the city, including photos, and was full of advertisements for hotels, cafe's and entertainment options.
Having just returned from Frankfurt a few months before finding the guidebook, I couldn't resist. I thumbed through it while I sipped my cappuccino and then happily paid the $10 price to bring it home to keep.
The book was written in the years before World War I, the Great War. The war that was supposed to end all wars. It didn't, of course. And during the Second World War, much of Frankfurt was destroyed by allied bombing. Frankfurt rebuilt and if you didn't know its history you might not realize that what a tourist sees now is relatively new. But the photos in the guidebook are fascinating because they show the city as it was. It all looks the same, but the photos in the book captured a period of history just before the world changed forever.
The book is on my desk and I occasionally open it to read a bit more. And, of course, I'm always on the lookout for something else that will have to come home with me.
I have a route, a circle of shops and places I go to feed my antiquing habit. At Atticus I can feed my coffee-habit at the same time.
Cheryl-Anne Millsap is a freelance writer based in Spokane, Washington. In addition to her Spokesman-Review Home Planet and Treasure Hunting columns and blogs and her CAMera: Travel and Photo blog, her essays can be heard on Spokane Public Radio and on public radio stations across the country. She is the author of “Home Planet: A Life in Four Seasons” and can be reached at catmillsap@gmail.com