The music plays, pool balls click together, people chatter as they socialize over coffee and snacks, and local students type away on their laptops trying to meet deadlines for their latest school paper. It’s a typical afternoon at a not-so-typical café located in Davis Square.

Diesel Café, located on Elm Street in Somerville is a popular local hangout for an eclectic mix of people- from college students and business people to parents, and activists. For some, it’s their neighborhood hangout, for others they make it a point to stop by Diesel whenever they are in Boston/Somerville area.

Diesel is one of the places that makes Davis Square unique- from the blue and orange walls and “refueling” theme to the pool tables, menu variety and inviting atmosphere Diesel’s relaxing environment is welcoming to people from all walks of life. The couches in the far back corner seat a variety of groups throughout the week- often parents with small babies, writers and college students sit there during the day and at night they become a meeting place for groups including people from local goth, livejournal.com, and poly communities.

The atmosphere and conversations of Diesel customers have changed a bit over the past few weeks. Instead of chit-chat about the DNC, bag checks on the MBTA, the upcoming election, and the legalization of gay-marriage conversations have shifted to how to keep the locally-owned café from getting forced out of its home by a national chain.

On July 6th, Diesel Café was forced to raise their prices as a result of an intense “bidding war” that has been ongoing for several months between the café and a wealthy large corporation. A letter to Diesel customers was posted in several places throughout the café explaining the situation of how difficult it is for a small locally owned business to compete for its lease with “big businesses with deep pockets.”

The owners and employees at Diesel Café aren’t ready to give up the fight and let Davis Square turn into another “outdoor mall” similar to Harvard Square. Not only has the rent increased, but the cost of dairy has increased as well. Diesel’s price increases have been small but noticeable. They aren’t any more expensive than the other local coffeehouses, but no longer the cheapest.

Despite the price increases, Diesel’s business has been as strong as ever- if not stronger. Diesel’s customers are realizing that if they want their favorite local café to be able to remain in Davis Square they are going to have to be the ones to show their support.

Jennifer Park, co-owner of Diesel Café has been moved by the support from the local community, “The thing that’s been the most interesting to us since we put up that note about getting into the bidding war has been the tremendous amount of support that we have gotten from our customers. Having people come up individually or in groups and offer their support and help in whatever that they can,” Park said.

“That just really reinforces our feeling about being a really important neighborhood establishment. We are all local. Everyone that works here lives in the area, close by.”

Though Diesel Café opened in May of 1999, the idea of Diesel as a coffeehouse started several years before. Jennifer Park founded Diesel along with 2 friends- Tucker Lewis and Rusty Poole. Their website- HYPERLINK "http://www.diesel-cafe.com" www.diesel-cafe.com tells the story behind the café. The three met when they worked as the management team at Herrell’s Ice Cream in Harvard Square. The trio loved coffeehouses and had a desire for a cool non-corporate café in which they could hang out.

Fueled by this dream they started working together to open their own café. While at breakfast one morning Tucker, Jennifer, Rusty and their friends were discussing ideas for their future business when a friend mumbled, “coffee, like fuel, like diesel.” It was at that restaurant booth that the concept of Diesel Café was founded and over the next two and a half years the three worked together through business plans to start their dream. After months of meetings, phone calls, research on permitting, licensing and zoning, getting support from family and friends, looking for a space to house their business plan, and many trips to Home Depot, Diesel was able to get the lease where the Optical Factory formerly was. Their dream became a reality and on May 29, 1999 the doors of Diesel Café were opened at its home in Davis Square.

Park and Lewis are the current owners of Diesel Café. They have invested so much more into Diesel in the past 5 years than just serving coffee.

Diesel has become a community within itself and for its customers. Lynne Levine, a Davis Square resident and regular Diesel customer says, “Diesel is one of the places that makes Davis Square unique. When I thought about the potential of Diesel leaving I thought ‘oh, one less reason to stay in this area.’ I have to leave anyway because I can’t afford the housing, but when one of your favorite meeting places also goes away then maybe it’s time to go look for a community elsewhere.”

Another Somerville resident, Shariann Lewitt, echoed Levine’s thoughts. “Diesel is the kind of place that makes Davis the kind of neighborhood it is. It's a unique, personal, ubercool reflection of the Davis Square area, and if it were to close and some homogenized standard place move in that would undercut the edge of the area. It's coffeehouses like Diesel that make Davis Square the destination it is.”

Lewitt sees Diesel as much different from the other area cafés. “Diesel is much more friendly, at least for me. Everyone is accepted there--older folk, ubergeeks, the terminally hip, queer-positive, families and parents with small babies stop in every afternoon. I'm very obviously goth and I feel just accepted and at home there. There is no particular "type" at Diesel, which is one of the things I love best.” Like other customers she is also concerned about the bidding war. “I would be desolate if a national chain moved in.” She says, “There's already a Starbucks across the street--isn't that enough?”

Individuals as well as groups in the community have shown their support for Diesel Café. Recently a group of local residents that use Livejournal.com a popular internet blogging site organized a MeetUp at Diesel Café. Some new each other strictly though Live Journal’s “Davis_Square” and “Diesel_Café” communities others were friends’ of friends that tagged along for support. The group came out to show their support by buying cookies, drinks and wraps and talked of the importance they felt that Diesel is to the Davis Square Community. Levine, noted “I like that [Diesel] has unisex bathrooms which is very helpful to anyone who is transgender. This is one of the places they can go and not have a huge anxiety about something as basic a need as going to the bathroom.”

Other members of the MeetUp crowded around one of the pool tables located in the back of the café. Levine added, “Where else have you seen a coffee shop with pool tables? I don’t even play, but I’m glad they are here.” This group plans to continue meeting biweekly to show their support for their local coffeehouse.

Support from the community is the only way that a locally owned business can survive when competing against big corporations for space as well as for business. “It takes people who are conscious of where they are spending their money,” says Park. “It is hard, even as individuals to even remain conscious, because you are competing against big brands that are offering their clothes for cheaper, their food for cheaper.”

Diesel Café tries their best to uphold a standard of excellence even when purchasing their products. The coffee they serve is organic as well as fair trade. “It’s not always possible but I think that having people remain supportive and remain committed to local businesses is really important because with out that sort of support we would not be able to continue to stay here. We are banking on that sort of support.”

Both the owners as well as the employees from Diesel are local residents. “We are investing into this community because a lot of us live in the area, and we feel like this is our home, and it’s a place to hang out in,” says Park. “For that atmosphere to change-- that is kind of a real dilemma. How do you keep places that have become desirable like Davis Square, Harvard Square, and even Central Square from keeping really big businesses out while maintaining the small business feel as rents rise. A lot of it just takes people- individuals and business owners to be committed to a particular area to keep it what it is.”

Levine, who is also a member of the local Poly group that meets at Diesel noted, “I think a lot of the alternative cultures also want to support Diesel because we know that it is lesbian-owned. We are supporting our own people that way.” She added, “I think once a decade there is a place out in the community that is meaningful and people come from all over the place to come here which doesn’t happen very often.”

Only with the support of those in the community will Diesel Café be able to continue calling Davis Square their home. It takes a community working together to keep local businesses on their feet and large corporations out of their neighborhoods. Or as Tucker Lewis wrote on their letter to the customers, “Sometimes it takes a whole community to raise a coffeeshop.”