Bill Creitz reflects on the good times Cambridge townfolk had at Bean Heads Coffee House Tuesday. Creitz closed the cafe in December for personal reasons. Photo by Christina L. Florada.

Roast in Peace
Jessica York , Staff Writer
Bennington Banner
January 18, 2006

VILLAGE of CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. — This shop served up more than just good coffee.
        Community meetings, local art, movies, jam sessions and poetry readings all found a home at Bean Heads Coffee Shop on the corner of Washington and East Main Streets - up until the cafe's closing last month.
       "I think lots of people just like to spend time there," said one of Battenkill Books' owners, Margaret Waterson. "Like everybody who went there, I'm really sorry to miss it."
        Waterson, who led poetry open-mics at the cafe in the past, said Bean Heads was high on the list of places within the community where residents went to socialize comfortably .
       Though the doors are now locked and the blinds are drawn, Bean Heads owner Bill Creitz can make his former patrons' personalities come alive with his stories.
       "I had all sorts," Creitz, 61, said while sitting in one of the shop's comfortable chairs Tuesday. "It was interesting because I had some real far left-wingers and some real far right-wingers, and they could all fit in the same room."
        One customer, an actor and the artistic director at the next door Hubbard Hall, was a familiar sight.
       "You've got Kevin McGuire who would come in and treat it like it was a stage," Creitz said with a smile. "Hello everybody, I'm here,'" Creitz bellowed, imitating the man's dramatic entrances.
        Creitz, a Long Island native, said he thought it was important to have his business serve as a meeting place for the community, and not just for financial gain.
        "I feel called to give back to the people," Creitz said. "So it was nice to have so many think of this place as their place."
        Creitz is attempting to sell Bean Heads by approaching prospective buyers and by word of mouth, he said. He is asking $500,000 for the building and the business combined.
        "The business, the building, everything is for sale. I've had a number of people who talked to me about leasing it, but I'd rather have some come take all of it."
        Timothy Moynihan, the business' first owner and founder, said Bean Heads had filled a special niche during its time. Although he sold the business to its second owner about eight years ago, Moynihan said he patronized the coffee shop right up until the last day it was open.
       "It had the hearts of many in our community," Moynihan said.
       One local patron, musician Robert Leonard, said he had very special memories of the coffee shop.
       "The Bean Head was actually the very first place I saw live musicians playing here," said Leonard by phone. "It was 1999 and Elizabeth and I had just moved ourselves to Cambridge."
        Leonard said he enjoyed the days when local artist Stephen Alcorn "would occupy the stage and own the walls, so to speak."
        The works of other famous and not-so-famous local artists have graced the walls of the cafe during its tenure.
       "It rivaled any type of coffeehouse in Saratoga or anywhere," Leonard said.
       Creitz said he went from knowing barely anyone in the community 27 years ago, when he was still a traveling salesman, to being widely recognized as the shop's owner. Creitz said he hopes to get back into sales now.
       "One of the things I would always do is sit down with people," Creitz said. "If it was slow ... I would just go sit down with them. And yes, people would talk."
        Creitz said his decision to sell came up rather suddenly while he was closed for a short while.
       "I know people miss the place," Creitz said. "It's just, it's too much work for me and it was physically really bothering me."