The room
Cold storage, 1911
The building was a produce warehouse and the walls are two feet of brick, which is why the trains on Mulberry arrive as a hum rather than a noise. We took the fluorescent grid out in 2019 and never put anything back in its place.
There is no overhead light in the main room. On a full night the ceiling is completely dark and the floor is four hundred small warm circles.
One lamp per chair
Brass, 1940s, rewired by Del Corrigan on Southwest Boulevard, on a dimmer you set yourself. If the lamp beside you is broken, tell us on the way out and it will be working the following Thursday.
Nobody will come to your chair to ask whether you need anything. That is not neglect, it is the service.
House rules
- No conversation past the vestibule. Notes are fine, and there are pencils by the door.
- Screens face down or stay in your bag. There is no wifi, so this is mostly self-enforcing.
- Stay as long as you want. There is no minimum, no maximum, and nobody keeping time.
Membership
There are sixty chairs and we do not add more. A chair is not reserved for you, but the room is never oversold: when we reach sixty we lock the door and put the lantern out.
| Standing | $34 / month | Every open night, a locker, coat check, tea. Cancel by telling us on the way out. |
|---|---|---|
| Occasional | $12 / night | Walk in if there is room. Coat check and tea. No commitment of any kind. |
Finding the door
1412 Mulberry Street, Kansas City, Missouri. Enter through the grey door on the north side. There is no sign. There is a lantern on a bracket beside the frame.
If the lantern is out we are at sixty. It usually comes back on inside the hour, and there is a bench.