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Lauren Berry and Rebecca Mitzel, servers at Charlestown Street Cafe, clean with other former cafe employees. They will return when the restaurant reopens to take your order. The target date to open its doors again is June 30. Photo by Steve Shay
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Former Servers Prepare Charlestown Street Cafe
By Steve Shay
Friday, July 04, 2008
Former servers and dishwashers have returned to the Charlestown Street Cafe to scrub and organize the kitchen and dining room, and in one week will be ready to take your order. A buzz of excitement seemed to hover above the busy cafe floor as staff readied the beloved local diner for its grand reopening, with the target date of June 30.
Co-owner, Ron Hanlon appeared to be utilizing three or four of his own hands as he ran between the office, kitchen, dining room and outdoor patio and garden clasping his phone, notepad, pencil, and a tool or two.
It appears that the "little engine that could" finally did. Last summer the Charlestown Street Cafe dodged the wrecking ball as Petco lost interest in the property last minute. Then on February 4 a deep-fat fryer fire broke out and electrical and plumbing improvements as well as insurance woes caused a five-month delay in reopening. But the servers say it was worth the wait. And they hope their former customers will, too.
"I'm excited to see all my old family here today. I miss my customers," said sentimental server Hesper Guerra with tears running down her cheeks. She has worked at the cafˇ since it opened 19 years ago.
"This was my first job. I was a teenager and never left," said Tara Scott, also a server. "I have worked here 23 years, four years when it was Meal Makers, and then since we opened the (Charlestown Street) cafe. I'm ready to reopen."
"It's like family here," said an excited Tama Warrior, which is literally true since she is Scott's big sister, by just a year and a half. "I've been working on my own painting and wall-finishing business in the months we've been closed, and just being a mom," added the Auburn resident.
"It's like a community here, with basically people of all ages young and old," said Sacha Hill, a three-year server at the cafe. "I love the girls I work with."
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