Marla's Place
The General Idea
Juice bar, occult bookshop, boarding house, and hang out for the Paranet
Aspects
Where the local practitioners get their Juice
The Face
Related Faction
Address
2535 Judah Street, San Francisco, CA 94122
Description
The Marion House, a two-story Victorian, is painted a soft lilac with white gingerbreading and surrounded by a short, wrought-iron fence. It actually is haunted, but not by what everyone thinks. Named after Lady Marion, the resident spirit, this is the modern-day home of Marla van Houten. Marla lives in the upstairs portion of the house in the round tower-like room. Downstairs is dedicated to her business, a bookstore and juice bar. “Coffee clouds the mind. Juice is made of the earth!”
There is a sign that sits prominently by the front door that reads, “During business hours, the books on the front porch are $0.50 or 5/$2. When the store is closed feel free to borrow them, but please either bring them back or pay me later. ANYTIME: If you don’t have money to buy books and need or want to read one, help yourself.” The front porch books are all used paperbacks, with a heavy emphasis on modern fantasy, occult / new age studies, paranormal romance, and the like.
The juice bar is run out of the updated kitchen. Prices are not set, and patrons are free to juice their own drinks or smoothies, as long as they clean up after themselves. Patrons can pay for their fruit, but Marla does not turn away people who need sustenance… if this is the only meal they get, it needs to be a good one and they need not feel pressured to pay for it. As long as they clean up after themselves, all is right.
Additionally, the kitchen stocks a well-filled pastry case, product of Lynchburg Bakery.
The other rooms in the house are let out to her customers who need a place to stay. Again, with the same attitude, as long as they make the bed and put the sheets in the washer before they leave, Marla doesn’t mind how long they stay, though with extended stays, she subtly drops hints about having the lawn mowed, rose bushes trimmed, and other minor tasks that go into maintaining an old house. She never has had to pay for landscaping.
The bookstore, which composes all of the bottom floor, save the kitchen, is decorated "mystically". Lots of candle lamps (actually flickering light bulbs), scarves over windows to change the shading of the rooms, and stereotypical occult wares around the house. Virtually anything that would be needed by a young or minor practitioner can be found there. (There are rumors, though, of a secret room, where Marla keeps the more potent or rare texts). In the middle of all the rooms are dark leather chairs set in conversational groupings. The walls are painted a dusty rose color, but the dark-colored scarves covering the windows deepen their appearance. There is always peaceful, new-age music playing on the old, hand-cranked Victrola. One room, towards the back of the house, has recently been converted into more of a meeting room, though still in the same style.
As it is only a couple blocks from Golden Gate Park, and serves a variety of extremely healthy food, Sgt. Eric Bruce Lee is frequently on the premises. When there has been trouble in or around Marla's place, Sgt. Lee has almost always been the first officer on scene.
