You would not intuitively place
Starbucks and historic preservation in the same sentence, but occasionally the coffee giant genuinely blends in well within neighborhoods outside of its Seattle base.
One such location is in San Jose, in the west side of
Silicon Valley. For years a street corner that borders Cupertino was home to the Bonsai Nursery, which was in business for four decades before closing in 1998. Now home to a Trader Joe’s and Wells Fargo, the mid-century gem stands out among faux-Spanish style strip malls and a home depot that run along what old timers still call Highway 9 (De Anza Boulevard).
Mid-century architect J. van der Pleog designed the building in 1960, with the noted clean lines, flat roof, token splash of color, and broad windows in one corner. Starbucks now runs the site, and while most of the interior looks like a coffee shop, the old Bonsai Nursery building is a stately anchor in an area where most 1950s and 1960s architecture has long disappeared.
You will not find any mid-century tulip chairs or egg chairs once you walk inside, and the chairs and tables are more classroom overstock than Arne Jacobsen or Eero Saarinen. But you will catch wafts of coffee and can imagine a time when fruit trees and tractors once ruled the region.
One view of the J. van der Pleog designed building
Corner with broad open windows to let in light, typical of the mid-century style
East-facing side of the old Bonsai Nursery
No more apricot trees or succulents, but now lattes and chai . . .
Natural light comes in and skinny soy lattes go out!
