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Monday, 30 January 2012 16:35

Written by Diana Nelson Jones

We have Kiva Han for another 18 days or so and many people will be paying their respects to this estimable coffeehouse on Craig Street and Forbes Avenue in Oakland.

I paid mine the other day when wan light was coming in the windows, when at several tables young men and women chattered and laughed. At another, a young woman stared intently at an iPad.

Kiva Han, one of the longest running coffeehouses in the city, is closing after about 15 years on Feb. 19.

The P-G already reported this sad news and refered to the "bathroom-wall graffiti, free board games and generally anti-corporate atmosphere" that earned the place such fandom.

The Bagel Factory will take over the lease on March 1.

Kiva Han was the place where I met so many people for interviews, from a young filmmaker to neighborhood advocates to architects and other experts who imbued my stories with details, controversies and wit.

It's where friends and I would go after visiting the Carnegie Museum of Art across the street or after spending hours looking in old bookstores on and off Craig Street, taking our finds in to sit over a coffee and leaf through them.

Another reason for my sadness is that Kiva Han was generous.

Last summer, Ed Wethli, president of Kiva Han Coffee, donated a $20,000 espresso machine to BREW on Broadway in Beechview to help it get started. Here's what Ed told me at the time:

"It's part of my corporate mission. We've done well and we're growing and this is a way for me to give back. A coffee bar is a community gathering place, a place where you can affect change. It's good for a neighborhood."

I couldn't reach Ed to find out whether or where they might relocate. The P-G reported that when the lease was up, Kiva Han could not afford the rent and requirements of the owner to upgrade.

Here's to Kiva Han for the change it affected, the community it enriched and here's to its revival somewhere in the city. Wherever is might be, it will be a lucky neighborhood.

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