Julio Revolorio didn’t open the Tres en Uno cafe to make a profit, which is fortunate, because he isn’t making one. At the end of May he was ready to close for good, but an impromptu silent art auction netted him $2,800, enough to pay three months’ back rent, gas, and electric bills. The cafe had to close one day this month because the power was cut off, but Revolorio was back the next day, using a generator.
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A year and a half after Revolorio and Romano returned, they were living in Rogers Park just east of the Metra tracks and noticed that a glass-walled storefront across the street had become available. They persuaded the owner to let them open a cafe and obtained the promise of a loan, but on the night they signed the lease they discovered their loan had fallen through. With no capital behind them, they opened anyway, in August 1995, offering, among other things, coffee from the Guatemalan co-ops, muffins, homemade tamales, and Guatemalan chuchitos.
At first the cafe stayed open until 9 PM, but Revolorio soon cut back. Almost all the customers were Metra commuters, and they stopped coming in after 9:20 AM, when the last early-morning train ran. “After that it’s pretty quiet. One or two people will stop by wanting to buy something. It’s very rare that someone stops by. Sometimes neighbors who’ve been away on vacation will come in and play chess. After four o’clock there is nothing.”
He was ready to go back to California, but then his backpack was stolen with all his papers and money and his plane ticket back to Los Angeles. He didn’t have a change of clothes, and he didn’t have a place to stay. He became homeless in the middle of winter.
–Neal Pollack
