This place surprised me, mostly because of it’s location, on the old main street through Kent.

The shop is a great resource for teachers, but also the books and games for children are top notch. I highly recommend a stopover here, as it is likely that your destination will be somewhere else, because who goes to Kent? Well, I guess we did this afternoon. Go figure.

A few words about Kent’s Meeker Street: it reminded me a lot of the small town America I knew as a child in the 70’s, that is, deserted, a little down and out, and a bit creepy in a good way, the kind of creepiness that made you curious rather than scared. There is a place I absolutely must go back and visit when it’s open, and that place is the Kent Cafe. Through the front window it appeared this coffee shop had not changed since its last remodel in, I would guess, must have been 1976. There’s the classic counter with the red upholstered swivel stools, the thick carpeting, the sticky booths and tables covered in faux wood grain, the off white china and fake plants; it’s all there. He was already on my mind, but seeing this tableaux of 1970’s America laid out in real life before my eyes made me recall the amazing photos of Stephen Shore found in Uncommon Places and American Surfaces.