This is the Coffee Cellar, a coffeehouse at 128-130 Locust Lane, in the basement of a Uni-Mart. But the Coffee Cellar is more than just a place to attain a caffeine high and read a magazine. This is a second home to many Penn State students and State College residents.

The Cellar is only one of a slew of coffeehouses in town and on campus. And the Cellar isn't the only one with character. Each coffeehouse in town seems to reflect the various personalities of the regulars who hang out there.

Morning crowds favor Irving's Bagels, 110 E. College Ave., before classes or work. Smokers love the Cellar and study crowds hang out at Café Gourmet, University Perk and The Daily Grind, three coffeehouses on Beaver Avenue. Live music fans frequent University Perk or The Espress'ery Coffeehouse, an on-campus alcove in Pollock Commons that stays open daily until 2 a.m.

The Coffee Cellar

The Cellar, also a late-night hangout that closes at 2 a.m., attracts a diverse group of students and locals who come to talk and socialize.

"This is a general place of congregation; it's a social hub," Jake Akers (freshman-computer engineering) said.

An assortment of decorations helps make The Cellar a unique place to congregate. The room is a cacophony of abstract wall art, weird patterns on the floor and various bizarre trinkets lending to the room's diverse, welcoming mood.

The crowd in The Cellar, almost as colorful as the ornamentation of the place, varies from the loud and boisterous to the subdued, who seem hypnotized by the room's colorful décor.

Akers and his crowd are regulars. He is a people watcher, constantly surveying the room while bantering with his friends. There is a connection between the customers here.

"(It) doesn't matter if you're a goth or prep. There's an easy atmosphere here, not at all exclusive to any group or individual," Akers said with a smile, watching people talk and move around the room.

A woman poised next to Akers watched him speak and impatiently put her hand over his mouth, trying to get a word in edgewise.

"It's very laid back here, much more than a bar or party. It's very open to all sorts of people. There's a comfortable atmosphere, very tolerant," Colleen Filush (sophomore-music education) said.

The Daily Grind

While The Cellar has a younger crowd looking to hang out with their friends and talk or smoke, The Daily Grind, 107 W. Beaver Ave., attracts friends as well as individual students looking for a place to work.

The Grind is nonsmoking and rarely has live entertainment. Yet students pack the 50 tables reading, talking or sitting with a steaming cup -- alone and staring out the window.

"We want to provide a place for people to come to continuously that doesn't surprise everyone by changing all the time," owner Debbie Molin said.

One day last week, one man even had his laptop out, plugged into the wall.

"I find I can get much more work done with all the noise. This is a chance to get out of the house," said Imre Szeman, a regular Grind customer from British Columbia.

"If you find you can't get work done at home, usually a change of scenery will help you finish your work," Szeman said.

Another characteristic of the Grind is the people who sit outside in any weather with steaming cups in front of them, smoking cigarettes.

"That's kind of the smoking section because we are a nonsmoking establishment," Molin said.

Cafe Gourmet

Located at 123 W. Beaver Ave, Cafe Gourmet is another good place to get work done. The Gourmet is brightly lit so patrons never have trouble reading the books in front of them.

"The Cafe Gourmet is much less of a hangout place and more of a place to listen to jazz and just chill," said employee Abby Romberger (senior-hotel and restaurant management).

"People here aren't really loud or carrying on. People come here to work on master's theses and stuff," Romberger said.

The Gourmet also hosts a jazz band, called Jazzmaphone, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Thursday and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

University Perk

Another coffeehouse with a healthy mixture of serenity and live entertainment is University Perk, 317 E. Beaver Ave.

The Perk features a live acoustic band every Friday night. During the week, though, the Perk is a place to cram for a last-minute test or write that final draft. The lighting is bright and the room is spacious and airy, making it easy to concentrate.

Undergraduates appreciate this ambiance.

"I like going to the Perk because it's quiet and I find I get a lot of stuff done when I'm in a relaxed atmosphere," Heather Szymanski (junior-advertising) said.

Many, like Szymanski, appreciate the intimate atmosphere.

"I feel like I get so much more accomplished at the Perk because it's in the best location, right around all the apartments -- Cedarbrook and Beaver Hill -- and most of the other students there are studying usually," Szymanski said.

The Perk is probably the biggest coffeehouse on Beaver Avenue, fitting in more than the 50-plus that can be seated at The Daily Grind.

An alternate gathering place

Coffeehouses provide a different experience altogether than bars, which are often boisterous and volatile.

"The atmosphere of a bar and a coffeehouse are much different. You've got the frat and sororities and party people who are out to get buzzed at a bar, and maybe pick up a date for the night," Akers said. "And you've got the other aspect of the social whole, those who like to hang out and talk, and not always get buzzed."

Many coffeehouse patrons slammed bars and fraternity parties as places where loud, drunken interlopers interfere with decent conversation.

"The bars and frat parties have a predatory mood about them, where drunk guys try to pick up girls in $70 Tommies," Solangel Sales (freshman-film) said.

Without the interference of alcohol, people are able to talk about various subjects and get to know each other, Akers said, without having to wake up the next morning with a hangover.

"Being at a coffeehouse establishes a familiarity -- when you see anyone you met here on campus, you can say 'Hi.' You don't feel like a number and that's important to freshmen and anyone else who feel they don't fit in to the prescribed football-frat party norm," Sales said.

Encouraged by the smiles of her friends around her, Sales timidly continued.

"There's no class system at a coffeehouse," she said. "We enjoy meeting different people and we accept people for their differences."

But Christine Zbyr (senior-psychology) said that's not true.

"There is a class system at the coffeehouse," Zybr said. "You see the coffeehouse people walking around town in the same kind of clothes. It's just like the people at the frat parties and bars -- just people with different interests."

Graphic: Jamie Perruquet