By Sam Warren, Frank Mortyn, and William B. Lindley

The Thomas Paine Coffeehouse is a reality. The Humanists in San Diego, after all these years, have their own home. The grand opening was September 21 with Steve Allen as honored guest. In his usual witty style he talked about society and politics and fielded questions from the audience. He also signed his latest book titled But Seriously . .. Steve Allen Speaks His Mind.

It all started when the Freethinkers' Society, a 501 (c) (3) corporation founded by James Hervey Johnson, acquired a new Board of Directors consisting of officers of three local Humanist organizations: the Humanist Fellowship of San Diego (HFSD), the San Diego Area Secular Humanists (SANDASH) and the Humanist Association of San Diego (HASD). Thanks go to Bonnie Lange, publisher of the Truth Seeker, for facilitating this change.

One of the members of the Humanist Fellowship offered to put up enough money for us to get our own meeting place if the funds were matched. At just the right time the James Hervey Johnson Charitable Educational Trust (with Bonnie Lange and Kevin Munnelly as new Co-Trustees) promptly offered to match the funds.

The partners of the Wikiup Cafe and Intersection Art Gallery split, and the remaining partner, Ruben Seja, an internationally known muralist who shares our conviction of logic over superstition, was looking for someone to

take over the coffeehouse part of the business. Alan Mandelberg, HFSD program chairman, owner of Capital Resources, did the negotiating and put the package together. Without all these people coming together at the right time, this "miracle" could never have happened.

Of special interest is that the Thomas Paine Coffeehouse also exists in cyberspace. Its World Wide Web address (URL) is quite simple: http://www.freethought. com. This website provides connections to many interesting freethought areas. This cyberspace

connection will soon be available to patrons of the Coffeehouse in the form of three computer terminals on site. There are also plans for the James Hervey Johnson Memorial Library to become part of the coffeehouse. With donations of valuable historical material by Frank Mortyn and others, the library has a jump-start on becoming a serious and worthwhile professionally structured library within the coffeehouse complex.

Stop by the website for a visit in cyberspace or drop by the new Thomas Paine Coffeehouse at 4247 Park Boulevard in San Diego!