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Café Noir: A Mystery Wrapped In a Conundrum

What the…? At the top of the black house, the letters I’ve missed for three long years. They're back on again.

“Café Noir.”

This I’ll have to investigate. Remember Café Noir, built into the li’l ol’ 1886 wooden house that almost got ’dozed for the ballpark?

It had the cutest little downstairs and a muy romantica upstairs library room. And a deck out front and another out back, and yes, a tree house! You could have coffee and lunches in any of these places.

And then Café Noir (447 Ninth Avenue, between Island and J, East Village, near the ballpark) closed its doors and a child psychiatrist moved in. But I can see through the door that the little counter’s still there.

The front deck

So I start snooping around. Finally make contact with a gent who says he’s a P.I. Says someone resembling him owns this property. Can’t name names.

"I saw the little neon sign 'Café Noir' was on again," I say. "Does that mean it's open?"

“Cleaner accidentally flipped the switch,” he says. “But you never know. Do I make myself clear?”

“As a latte coffee,” I say. “But there's a lot of folk out there who want it back. Does it have a future? They’re not going to pull the house down?”

Laughing Buddha guards the back wall

“Pull it down?” he says. “After it has survived 125 years? Never. But the café? Let’s just call this a mystery wrapped in a conundrum enveloping not the word ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ A conspiracy for good. Do I make myself…?”

“Clear as a question-mark," I say. "I think you’re saying ‘stay tuned.’”

"I think I'm saying you never know," he says.

But I like the tone of his voice.

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What the…? At the top of the black house, the letters I’ve missed for three long years. They're back on again.

“Café Noir.”

This I’ll have to investigate. Remember Café Noir, built into the li’l ol’ 1886 wooden house that almost got ’dozed for the ballpark?

It had the cutest little downstairs and a muy romantica upstairs library room. And a deck out front and another out back, and yes, a tree house! You could have coffee and lunches in any of these places.

And then Café Noir (447 Ninth Avenue, between Island and J, East Village, near the ballpark) closed its doors and a child psychiatrist moved in. But I can see through the door that the little counter’s still there.

The front deck

So I start snooping around. Finally make contact with a gent who says he’s a P.I. Says someone resembling him owns this property. Can’t name names.

"I saw the little neon sign 'Café Noir' was on again," I say. "Does that mean it's open?"

“Cleaner accidentally flipped the switch,” he says. “But you never know. Do I make myself clear?”

“As a latte coffee,” I say. “But there's a lot of folk out there who want it back. Does it have a future? They’re not going to pull the house down?”

Laughing Buddha guards the back wall

“Pull it down?” he says. “After it has survived 125 years? Never. But the café? Let’s just call this a mystery wrapped in a conundrum enveloping not the word ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ A conspiracy for good. Do I make myself…?”

“Clear as a question-mark," I say. "I think you’re saying ‘stay tuned.’”

"I think I'm saying you never know," he says.

But I like the tone of his voice.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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