In the heart of downtown Falls Church, VA, is a spot next to the Post Office where at one point there was a rather fancy Tudor house. The house was converted to offices, and when those were gone, the house was abandoned, picturesquely and sloppily overgrown with ivy. Finally the house was taken down and nothing was left on the land but a lawn. A few years ago, a pair of sisters came to Falls Church from Oregon with their families, wishing to make a new start. They noted that, though there were plenty of coffee shops in the area, there were no drive-through coffee stops such as they had out in the Pacific Northwest. So they founded the 2 Sisters Coffee booth, a movable little building which was placed on the lawn of the old house, using its semi-circular driveway for their drive-in path.

The tiny house, or booth, contains the coffee equipment, a few pastries and cookies, and enough space for only one vendor. They have not only drive-in customers, but plenty of walk-in coffee drinkers from the Post Office and the businesses in the center of town. In the summertime, 2 Sisters hosts a monthly art and craft show on the lawn in front of the shop. I've exhibited there once and hope to do so again this summer.

However, there may not be an "again" for much longer. The space occupied by 2 Sisters is, as journalists would put it, "slated for development," along with much of the rest of downtown Falls Church. That means either a hotel or a multi-use urban block, so no more lawn or drive-through coffee stand. The 2 Sisters booth won't go away, though; I hope that it will simply move to another place to do its drive-in business. No one yet knows what will happen. In the meantime I have depicted the 2 Sisters coffee stand in its current place, surrounded by trees and grass. In the background, you can see a squarish white postal truck, belonging to the Post Office next door.

"2 Sisters Coffee" is watercolor on board, 9" x 14".

Posted at 7:58 pm | link