Luke’s Diner / White Elephant Coffee Co. AKA : The Gilmore Girls Experience.
This is a longer post. Warning in advance.
If you grew up in the early 200o’s you are probably well aware of the TV Show Gilmore Girls. If you are also a fan like myself you no doubt were extremely excited when you heard about the planned 4 episode reboot on Netflix you were practically giddy. So when I heard that Netfilx was going to be doing Luke’s Diner popups all over the country on the 16th anniversary of the show I knew I had to be there.
(This photo courtesy of townofstarshollow.org)
Texas had several cities participating, but San Antonio only had one location that was being converted into Luke’s Diner, White Elephant Coffee Co. in the South Town area. It seemed simple enough, I would get up early, wait in line, and be at work early with a Luke’s coffee cup.
Cue October 5th 2016, I get up to my alarm at 5 am drag myself out of bed, slap on a face, get in my vehicle and drive to South Town. I’m thinking to myself I’ll be there early and be near the front of the line… this was not the case. I got there and the line was wrapped around the building almost reaching the front entrance. I was luck enough to pull into a spot someone was leaving and immediately got into line. It was still dark outside at this point and I had about two hours until I had to be at work. I waited patiently in line chit chatting with others in line with me and we were having a great time discussing our theories for what the reboot would bring. Suddenly my alarm went off on my phone 8:15… you have to leave and go to work with no Luke’s cup. I was no where near the front of the line (which had only moved about 200 feet total), so I had to leave and go to work empty handed. I took a quick snap of the front door with the Luke’s sign before leaving to go back to work.
Now I work at an incredible place with possibly the most amazing coworkers and supervisors on the planet. My boss came in and asked if I had secured the Luke’s cup I had talked her ear off the day before. I told her no and she told me to go back to Luke’s! I raced back over and secured a new place in the growing line.
It was now 10:15 A.M. Just after 11 an employee came out to tell us that all of the Gilmore Girls cups had been given out but that there were still sleeves with the Luke’s branded logo to be given out. I thought ‘okay no problem that the best part anyway. Cue an HOUR later and I have finally reached the front door and reached the interior, they run out of sleeves.
(Me before I heard the tragic No More Cup News.)
I then had a desperate moment… I asked the woman in front of me if I could take a picture with her Luke’s cup and bless her she said sure of course! Several other people who had received the coveted item who were on there way out offered their cups to others who wanted to take their own snaps of the Instagram worthy piece.
I think that that moment showed the real spirit of the event, fans assisting other fans, just like the citizens of Stars Hollow would. Everyone was so happy to be there and among other kindred spirits that it didn’t matter if the actually had the cup in hand, we were all there for the experience of being with other people like us. Everyone could still snap photos of the NO CELLPHONES sign and the employees in their Luke’s attire (complete with plaid shirts) and be perfectly pleased.
My boss texted to check in on my progress and I let her know that I would be back on my was sans coffee cup. When I arrived back at my desk my coworkers had bestowed upon me their won version of the Luke’s Diner experience; sticking a Luke’s logo to my Starbucks cup and even a NO CELLPHONES sign!!!
So am I disappointed that I didn’t get to get the Luke’s Coffee Cup? Not really. I met amazing people, had a good time, and took some fun photos. I feel that the comradery displayed by everyone at the event made everyone feel like they had the full Stars Hollow experience; the cup of coffee is just the symbol, but the spirit is what it is all about.
Also townofstarshollow.org is a thing… and it is epic.