SARATOGA SPRINGS -- In a 1960s photo, Bob Dylan sits back in one of Caffe Lena's wooden chairs.
The picture shows Dylan, with his right leg crossed over his left and looking somewhat comfortable, as he talks to Lena Spencer, the late proprietress of the coffeehouse.
Dylan might have been the only one to find comfort in the seating at Caffe Lena.
The chairs have been notoriously uncomfortable for those sitting through a two-hour show -- until recently. The venue has new seats, and from now on, hopes to be known just for its folk music.
"It was time for them to go," said Stanley McGaughey, who has sat through hundreds of shows at Caffe Lena since the mid-1970s.
"They were part of the cafe, and when you came, you expected that experience, but heavens, these new chairs are great chairs."
Last year, Caffe Lena decided to ditch the old chairs for 90 new Plymold Seating chairs, made in Kenyon, Minn. They arrived in time for New Year's Eve.
The new chairs provide a sturdy back support and a padded seat. The black chairs blend well into the venue, positioned around circular tables that were refinished by a volunteer within the last year, manager Sarah Craig said.
The old seats had been around since Caffe Lena opened in 1960.
Torey Adler, president of the Caffe Lena Board of Directors, said he had heard the chairs were bought used by Spencer.
"They were the sort of chairs made for a place that didn't want people to sit too long, like a soda fountain," Adler said.
Volunteers repaired broken chair legs, backs and seats as the chairs became older and broke.
"They always left one wondering when you sat down," McGaughey said. "You never knew if they would hold up."
Craig said the old chairs interfered with the music experience, so the nonprofit club set out to raise money for new ones.
"The day that we announced the campaign, the performer picked a chair off the floor and put it on the stage," Craig said. "He sat down to do a show and sat right through the cane webbing."
In two weeks, the venue's members and customers donated more than 8,000 to purchase the new seats.
In exchange for an 85 donation to underwrite a new chair, each donor received a piece of Caffe Lena history.
"We rewarded the generosity of our donors with their own highly uncomfortable chair that could have been the rear quarters for Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris or Mississippi John Hurt," Adler said.
News RSS