Shine Coffee and The Vernon Pocket Park Rock

shine-coffe-1I like people who dream and especially those who act on their imaginations. Christiaan and Laryn Callaway Blok are such people. They fanaticized about a place that would support community and that vision led to two things… Shine Coffee and the Vernon Avenue Pocket Park.

Shine Coffee, located just west of Central & Vernon, is a sweet coffee house where commuters and nearby residents can catch a cup of locally roasted coffee, sip on fresh brewed tea or enjoy a bit of homemade pastry.

Commuter Alert! Many people driving into downtown Phoenix have a hard time finding a place they can park to catch their morning nectar of the gods. Not so for Shine Coffee fans, they will find parking in the lot to the west of the shop’s living room, a two story cape cod next to the walk up shop, as well as some street parking.

In addition to the Willo and museum district coffee house, Laryn Callaway-Blok has created a small infill park called the Vernon Avenue Pocket Park. The pocket park is a testament to collaboration. Laryn, along with the property’s landlord and City of Phoenix put together a KickStarter project. The community backed the initiative, using Kickstarter to collect over $23,000 for the design and development of this special space. Here is what Laryn had to say about how the park came into being:

Urban Phoenix could use some more shade.  This became obvious when we moved our business to the Midtown Museum district of Phoenix late last year.  Instead of putting up a shade structure and building a “patrons only” patio, we asked “How can we do something the entire neighborhood will enjoy and benefit from?”  The answer: construct a beautifully designed urban green-space… a “pocket park”.

Shine-Pocket-Park-Ribbon-Cutshine-coffee-2Vernon Pocket Park features Chinese Pistachio trees, comfy grass, and seating. During its grand opening on January 18th, 2014, lots of downtowners gathered to celebrate, hears its story and watch Mayor Stanton performed the ribbon cutting ceremony.

There’s More! In addition to a great cup of java or tea, Shine has joined forces with Short Leash for what they call Shine & Dine. On Wednesdays from 11:00-1:30 you can get one of the best dogs in town, enjoy the new park or step inside the living room on our rare cold or often too hot days.

Shine Coffee is a great addition to mid-town Phoenix and the new Vernon Pocket Park is the whipped crème to make it even tastier.

Shine Coffee is open from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday-Saturday… closed on Sunday.

Best to you,

Gene Urban & Ron Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
Downtown Phoenix & Historic Home Specialists
602-234-5777
Gene@UrbanTeamAZ.com

Connecting people to the perfect place for over 20 years

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