I’m ecstatic when I enter the maze, a feeling that transmogrifies into mania as I move farther in. People funnel through the entrance and ascend the escalator like a birth canal. Budding families discuss décor they saw in one of the carefully curated rooms. Kids press themselves up against the window. Everyone is on display, minding their suburban business. From the outside, the second-floor cafeteria beckons. Does parking in the ample space between two lines make you nervous? Well, IKEA has 2,300 spots. I suggested IKEA’s cafeteria, a suggestion that had less to do with the floor-to-ceiling windows allowing natural light to stream through, or the splendor of Red Rock as a backdrop, than with the true gem of IKEA: its design.įor starters, the parking lot has numerous entry points. We needed a spacious place to “work on our craft.” It had to be in a part of town broke writers could afford, where masking was less about politics and more about disinterest in applying makeup. Who wants the awkward conversation about where people stand on COVID transmission? If the 2016 election taught me anything, it’s that ignorance of your friends’ politics is bliss. In graduate school during the pandemic, I’d meet fellow writers at outdoor cafes in spring and fall. But I never forgot the joys of lounging in a birch Rönninge chair for hours. Eventually, I’d move away and forget the home furnishings superstore. I was new to the West Coast farm-to-table subculture that required avocados on everything. The OC Weekly declared it a breakfast spot back in the early aughts. I wouldn’t have ever been to an IKEA if not for the breakfast. There are libraries and community centers, but sometimes you want to sit someplace and watch the traffic on the beltway. The rest of us have few places where we can linger unbothered without buying something. My friends with pools become scarce on days when the valley feels like Satan’s solarium. Surviving the summer in Las Vegas is a challenge. IKEA’s cafeteria is my consumerist equivalent of a community center
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