Pontiac Still Rolling

COFFEE HOUSE MOVES IN WITH PIZZA SHOP

On The Menu

Pontiac Coffee House

HOURS — 7-11 a.m. Monday-Saturday

WHERE — 813 W. Maple Ave. in Springdale

PHONE — 751-4654

WEBSITE — pontiaccoffeehouse.com

The marquee on the old Charlesworth Pontiac building in Springdale reads: “MOVED NEXT DOOR. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.”

And, as promised, less than a stone’s throw up Thompson Street, the Pontiac Coffee House is creating new memories.

A handful of the chrome-edged tables from the old location of the well-loved local coffee spot are nestled into the corners of the small lobby of Jim’s Razorback Pizza, which now shares its space with Pontiac.

“We’re there in the morning, they’re there at lunch and supper,” says Nancy Hagen, owner of Pontiac Coffee. Since most of the coffee shop’s business was in the mornings and the pizza shop’s was in the afternoons and evenings, the seemingly awkward marriage is working out quite well, she says.

A big shiny red espresso machine sits on the left side of the counter, along with a display of teas and stirring straws. In addition to the tables, which feature nostalgic pictures under their glass tops, a few signs have made their way over from the old Pontiac building, with more memorabilia to come soon, Hagen says.

The original Pontiac Coffee House opened its doors in March of 2005, the actualized dream of a little girl who grew up watching her father drink coffee and sell cars in the Charlesworth Pontiac dealership her grandfather built. (The original dream of the 13-year-old was to open a tearoom, but the dream progressed as she grew.)

Nancy Charlesworth Hagen’s grandfather bought the land that Jim’s Razorback Pizza stands on in 1929 and the land under the Pontiac building in the ’40s.

The hospital has grown around and onto the Charlesworth family’s land for years, she explains from the little coffee/pizza shop dining area. The hospital continues to grow, and “they can’t go any other direction.” They wanted to buy her beloved Pontiac building so they could build a clear grand entrance. “It’s hard to find a front door,” Hagen admits of the hospital.

Hagen was trying to decide if she wanted to fight the expansion and hold onto the building or to sell and move the coffee shop. “A few days later is when the truck came through the window,” she says, referencing the April 20, 2010, accident when a pickup drove through the coffee house’s front window. “And so I think God gave me my answer.”

As part of the deal with the hospital, Hagen could rent the pizza place building back from the hospital for at least five years. But Hagen didn’t want to boot out Jim’s, which had been renting from Hagen. So the two companies formed a partnership and are now working together in the slender building at 813 W. Maple Ave.

“It’s kind of like our two families have merged,” Hagen says cheerily, noting that Jim’s has been wonderful to work with. Though letting go of the Pontiac building is hard — “I have 49 years of memory in that building,” she says — “I believe everything that’s happened was meant to be.”

Pontiac Coffee House now has shortened hours, from 7-11 a.m., and a shortened menu. The popular chicken salad is gone (though the enterprising Hagen is trying to figure out a way to offer it again), but the baked oatmeal, made with brown sugar, apricots and cranberries, is still available for $2.50.

Pontiac’s pastries are baked fresh every day (in the pizza oven!) by Hagen’s husband, Jeff Hagen. Scones are still available for $1 in Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip, Blueberry Harvest and Pink Pontiac, which is raspberry white chocolate.

And he’s created a new pastry, named the “Duffin,” a muffin batter baked in the shape of a donut, for 75 cents. “It’s much easier to eat” than a regular muffin, his wife says, and generally healthier as well. Current flavors offered include To Die For Blueberry Crumble, Honey Craisin Bran and Banana Nut Crumble.

Through the end of March, customers will get a free Duffin with every drink purchase. The shop still offers lattes and cappuccinos in a range of flavors (Sugar Daddy, Snickerdelicious, French Vanilla, Irish Cream, etc.) for $3-$4; mochas (Black Forest Cherry, Mint Grasshopper, the Pink Pontiac) for $3.50-$4.50; coffee, tea, soda and juice for $1.50-$3.50; and real fruit smoothies for $3-$4.

In between trading banter with a customer and taking sips out of a navy blue mug, Hagen looks at the photos under a tabletop, telling stories about her relatives and the surrounding land. “We’ve got history in this town,” she says.

And they’re not finished yet.

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