f so, then Firestorm Café & Books, 48 Commerce St. downtown Asheville is the place to go! Co-owners Kila Donovan and Evan Scott create Asheville's ultimate counter culture cafe. It's even vegan with soft cushion sofas.

In addition to an array of vegan and organic cafe options, they offer a wide range of counter-culture books, zines and other independently published materials, largely unavailable in the area. The café’s back half,  partitioned off with a curtain when needed, provides meeting space for community groups or events. The lectures have ranged from sustainability, to women's issues, from anarchistic to spiritual...

Our Asheville Magazine staff can feel the revolutionary ambiance. Ever since the close of Beanstreet's and the pasteurization of too many Lexington Avenue shops, Asheville has missed the beat feeling of non-conformity, power-to-the-people, as well as well as a watering hole for intellects..

Enter Firestorm Café offering a safe haven. The space features a comfortable setting with plush chairs, a small stage, a PA system and projection screen, and free Internet access, not simply wi-fi...including three computers. The simply ask you to limit your use to 20 minutes so others can have access.

We also loved the crystal glass chess set. But what really sets the café apart is its business model, pioneered by Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse in Baltimore, Maryland. With business-planning help through Mountain BizWorks’ Foundations Program, and in collaboration with consultants from the Asheville-based Southern Appalachian Center for Cooperative Ownership,

Firestorm was officially established on May 1 as a nonprofit, worker-owned LLC. Worker/owners —there are 10 so far, ranging in age from 19 up into their 30s—who share equally in the business. Many have a background in community activism and organization through such groups as Asheville LETS (Local Exchange Trading System), Citizens’ Awareness Asheville, the Asheville Global Report and Sustainable Asheville.

The entire enterprise has been aided and abetted by significant donations of volunteer labor and supplies, and financed by low- or no-interest loans from enthusiastic community members who believe in what they’re doing.  The only real encumbrance to date is a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of credit-card debt.

And in keeping with Firestorm’s goal of promoting local self-sufficiency, any net profits are used to endow grant programs to assist local community groups dedicated to sustainability in its various forms.

Besides meetings, they offer book readings, acoustic-music performances and film screenings in the space. They've been opened since May 24, 2008, and we trust they will be here forever! Or at least until we win the Revolution. By the way, Virato, host of VIRATO LIVE! can often be seen in Firestorm Café with his beloved, Dhiraja...planning their next campaign!

Firestorm Café  is open 10 AM to 10 PM, 7 days a week. They can also be accessed from Patton Ave. just to the right of the wine shop.  Park at the Post Office across the street.

828-255-8115  info@firestormcafe.com When you call or visit please let them know you learned about them from this Asheville Magazine HOT SPOT!