The Original Diesel Love Story – Meeting Jennifer Park Prelude: My Diesel Love Story is impossible to put to words. Diesel has meant everything to me in my adult life. Not only has it been a dream job, it has brought me most of things that mean something to me. For example, I met my totally dreamy wife behind these counters …
A Good Luck Charm It was more than 20 years ago that I walked into my architectural firm in Davis Square to find Jen and Tucker in our conference room talking to Anne Daw. I was in a suit and tie, having come from a meeting with clients at the Bank of Boston. Everyone there …
Certain Something Special Had Begun May 28, 1999, the day before diesel first opened its doors was my 23rd birthday. I spent it helping to tackle the endless to-do list Tucker had carefully written out on a massive sheet of butcher paper. As I tightened bolts on the small round tables and arranged cups in …
Marriage Meetings For fourteen years — 2002 through 2016 – I was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the City of Somerville and over those years officiated just over 400 weddings. I was lucky enough to have been a JP in those particularly joyous days when same sex marriage was approved in Massachusetts. …
My Heart Onto the Page When my partner, Mary, and I moved to Davis Square in 2012, we had no idea how lucky we were to have a neighbor like you. From the first moment we walked in and saw your beautiful staff and felt your inclusive vibe, you became our go-to spot for coffee …
A Somerville Success Story 20 years! I met you in 1999 when I was a member of the Somerville Board of Aldermen and you were pursuing your dream. You were both attending a Board meeting and an item on the agenda was a permit request related to your new business – The Diesel Cafe. I saw …
Fuel Diesel Cafe turns 20 in May. In September, my career in coffee will also turn that big 2-0. Being a fan of dates and anniversaries, holidays and the such, this isn’t really much of a revelation or surprise for me. It’s been on the brain for quite a while now, especially the past year. …
Self-Love self-love noun \ ˌself-ˈləv \ Definition of self-love : love of self: such as a : an appreciation of one’s own worth or virtue Everything typed above this line was copy and pasted from Merriam-Webster, the definition of self-love I mean. I would correctly cite it if I could. I think that’s a skill …
Big, Bold Ideas Diesel is so much more than a café – it is a home to civic artisans, social architects and values engineers. It is a space that welcomes big, bold ideas. I vividly recall this past summer, when dozens of committed and curious constituents of the Massachusetts 7th District crowded in Diesel to …
Group of Weirdos Hello Diesel and happy 20th birthday! I vividly remember when Diesel opened when I was a teenager and friends going to check it out on the weekends. I thought what is this place? I eventually became a customer, had a art show there then a few years later became a employee. To …
So Many Friends and Loves
Thanks a Latte In September 1999 one of my best friends (Mónica) and I moved to Somerville. We were fresh out of undergrad and trying to figure out our way in Boston. We were overwhelmed, optimistic, naive, excited, and felt the blessing and curse of new adulthood on our shoulders. We walked into Davis Square …
Livin’ La Vida Loca Diesel, when it first opened, was the enemy. I was in the Someday Cafe camp. You probably don’t remember, but Someday Cafe was a grungy cafe in the current location of the creperie with a very, um, lived-in vibe. The menu was Star-Trek themed. Seating consisted of uncomfortable plastic chairs in …
So, So Happy EDITOR’S NOTE: All 4 members of the Branch-Tomsho family wrote Diesel Love Stories. Read them all!
Entrepreneurial Misfits In the summer of 2005, I moved to Medford, MA with my college roommate, Steve, after convincing him to start a startup with me. That company ended up being Reddit and over the next year and a half we toiled away on it. None of the apartments we rented had A/C, so I’d …
Sounds of Our Daily Life I was a 23 year-old queer kid moving from rural North Carolina to Boston when I first stepped foot in Diesel just 2 weeks after the café opened. Little did I know that Diesel would be providing more than a much needed break from a frustrating apartment search. Like for …
57 Years of Memories The hardest part for me about writing this Diesel Love Story is that there isn’t necessarily a story: stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. I’m an English teacher now, I get to know that. And my story, of the real, meaningful, lasting friendships that came from working at Diesel Cafe only has a …
Good Time Then, More to Come -I moved here in late 2000, and in the spring of 2001 I asked my cousin for good places to sit and draw and people watch. She suggested this cafe in Davis Square. Some people like bars. I don’t. They’re loud and dark, I don’t drink beer, and standing …
A Magical, Percussive Dance Dear Diesel, It’s hard to overstate the importance this place has had in my life. There isn’t a whole lot that you weren’t a part of in some way or another. I started working at Diesel during my last year of college when I was 23. I worked for about six …
Diesel Was My First Home I have always had a deep fondness for cafes because at their root they exist to cultivate community. In 2007, I had just graduated from college in upstate NY, was moving to Boston where my sister lived, and looking to work at a cafe. When visiting my sister in Boston, …
Friendship Bracelets When I pretended to leave last spring, I thought that it was Diesel and my time committed to its service that contributed to my burnout—in actuality it was the very essence that was keeping me (and has kept me) spiritually alive through this MA experience— I don’t think it’s a secret that my …
Mochas Were My Gateway Drug My Diesel love story starts with an important fact: I didn’t drink coffee before I entered Diesel’s doors in 2010. I only got mochas made of mostly milk for the first five years I was a customer, when I opened an office for my health coaching practice across the street …
Conspiracies and Mysteries Many conspiracies have been unraveled and mysteries solved over coffee at the Diesel.https://www.amazon.com/Enochs-Thread-John-Aubrey-ebook/dp/B01CN20CQE
The Place With the Motorcycle The first time I visited Diesel Cafe, I was a freshman at Emerson College. It was the fall of 2010, and I was only eighteen. I barely passed for an adult: “artsy” glasses, long sleeve shirt under a graphic tee, black skinny jeans. Still a hint of baby face. I …
DIY Arts Conference Diesel’s been a great place to meet to plan things. Dave Taber and I did all of the planning there for a small, indie arts conference on copyright for artists back in 2011. http://artsake.massculturalcouncil.org/copyright-appropriation-and-creatives/
All Love and Blind Support
Diesel Love Stories 