HOMER’S BEST BETS </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 8:48 PM on Wednesday, February 28, 2007

HOMER’S BEST BETS

Up there in the Big Wild, caffeine addicts are jittery with joy over the news that Los Anchorage has the highest number of coffee joints per capita in the USA — a big whopping 2.865 espresso stands per 10,000 people. Holy cappuccino! Did anyone bother to count coffee establishments in Homer?

Photographer: Michael Armstrong, Homer News
50 candles Several bald eagles roost on the lighthouse of the Salty Dawg Saloon this week on the Homer Spit. The Salty Dawg celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The Betsteroid did a survey of places that serve espresso (truck stop sludge didn’t count), and a gallon of quad lattes later, crunched the numbers. Anchorage, eat your heart out. From Kachemak Drive to the top of Baycrest Hill, we have 20 espresso stands per 10,000 people. Two-point-eight shops? Heck, Homer has that many in one block of Pioneer Avenue. That’s not counting the places that open on the Spit in the summer.

The only thing Homer has more of per-capita is opinions. Our opinions per 10,000 people run about 11,675, but that’s because by the time you ask everyone what they think, people have changed their minds. Again. It’s what keeps our letters page lively.

Why so many latte joints? The Betster might be a smarty-pants knowitall, but on this yours truly is stumped. Write up a grant and do a study. So sit back, grab a grande skinny mocha triple espresso 110 degrees with an inch of foam on top, read your favorite Thursday morning paper, and check out some of the Best Bets:

BEST HOOHAA BET: A Florida theater got in trouble with playwright Eve Ensler for calling her play “The Hoohaa Monologues.” We’re a little bolder here. That’s “The Vagina Monologues,” a series of spoken-word pieces about, hello, that which makes women women. The Homer production plays at 6 p.m. today and 1 p.m. Sunday at the Homer Theatre. Admission is $15 and benefits South Peninsula Haven House. It’s another fine Bella Luna event.

BEST ABOUT TOWN BET: There’s so much to do this Friday, it feels like May. Not only are there the usual First Friday gallery openings, but there are Bella Luna events, like Art, Music, Poetry and Prose from 5-7 p.m. at Latitude 59°. Oh, and there’s a basketball game at the high school, a Salvation Army sale from 5:30-8 p.m. and … well, check out the Calendar and Arts pages for all the details.

BEST BIG ACTS BET: Hey, this weekend, we’re blessed by two Outside musicians. Tonight, Willy Porter plays starting at 8 p.m. at Duggan’s Waterfront Pub. If you didn’t get enough of his Milwaukee sound, head out to the Down East Saloon at 10 p.m. Saturday for Clinton Fearon and the Boogy Brown Band, when the Seattle and Jamaica reggae master gives us some rasta vibrations.

BEST RACING FOR MAX BET: It’s maximum fun for Max’s Fund this Saturday. Starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Kate Kuhns Aquatic Center it’s a kayak race. At 6 p.m. the Homer Ice Racing hot rodders take to the ice for its first ever night races on Beluga Lake. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged to support Max Haggerty’s fund to pay for his double-lung transplant.