Nova Express Cafe 1993 - 2008
Imagining Nova Express Cafe, Drawing by Cary Lewis Long
Nova Express Café
A Voyage Into The Unknown
“Like a blinking pulsing spacecraft glowing with eerie luminescence through the steaming mists of a futuristic megalopolis, Nova Express Café beckons with a voyage into the unknown. The Nova Express is a state-of-the-art, Earth-calibrated hyper dimension of nourishing food, musical amusement and thought forms from outer space all synergized to provide a delightful and luxurious sense of the mystery of life”.
Huge thanks to Joseph De Mario and Joel Mark for the photos. Photo: Joel Mark Photography
Nova Express Cafe was the art project with business component of sculptor and conceptual artist Cary Lewis Long . He studied art and philosophy at Berkeley, and saw the business project as an integration of art and society. In existence from June of 1993 to March of 2008, Nova Express Cafe was the first science-fiction-themed cafe in Los Angeles. The “walk-in sculpture that sells pizza” was in operation for 15 years as an independent cafe. Besides serving food and drinks, Nova Express Cafe was a venue for experimental music and performance, poetry readings, rock bands, storytelling and art events.
“Working with a limited budget, the Cafe was made almost entirely from found and second-hand materials. A fan of fantasy architecture, Long painted many surfaces to fluoresce under black light, including ameoba-shaped tables and a silhouette-filled screen constructed with stencils made with an X-Acto knife, auto paint and a pizza box. The rocket-like chairs were found at the Pick Your Parts junkyard and refurbished."
"It's a fragment of some alien architecture," Long says. "I used some leftover garden hose, two screen doors, and a couple of buckets of plaster. The building inspectors didn't quite know what to make of it." "I'm a big fan of fantasy architecture," says Long, "I've tried to make the place with these little fantasy zones..." (LA Times, A Touch of Whimsy)
As a fun and welcoming art space, it was meant to be a place where people would be inspired to experience a heightened sense of their own individuality and of the creative possibilities of life.
From Jack Pedota, Photographer: Angelica Bridges was a featured model for the 'Further Adventures of Barbarella" Fashion Editorial for Axcess Magazine. This location was the incredibly amazing Nova Express Cafe in Hollywood, with sculptures by Cary Lewis Long. The gun was made by creative genius Adam Kurtzman and the outfit designed by Rebecca Sevrin, circa 1995.
Everything Glows
“I love Nova Express Cafe! This place is great and very comfortable. Cool techno futuristic music with trippy psychedelic lava lamps on the tables. There are black lights on the walls and everything glows.”
~ Karina A
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
This was one of the first outdoor signs. Nova used to keep insane schedule 5pm-4am, 7 days a week offering a refuge for night owls.
“They were open till 4 a.m., and it was a cool and sexy spot to take a date, if you just wanted to chill in the after hours. The decor of the inside always seemed to change, but one thing that remained consistent was the fact that it seemed like you were walking into outer space once you were inside.” ~Nova patron
Apparently human beings are embedded in an incredible mystery. To further enjoyment of the incredible mystery of life, Nova Express Cafe offers a wide spectrum of comforts such as hot succulent pizza, frosty cold beer and tangy fruit martinis!
NOOOOOOOOO. Now I have one less reason to visit LA again. This place was one of the few places that made me think LA was a city worth living in. During my six month stint in the city, this was my sacred refuge. ~Niki M/Boston MA
I would seriously sacrifice several hundred LA pizza joints to a stinky fiery volcano cult god just to resurrect Nova Express. Oh and maybe a virgin or two. ~Sherie M.
What the hell, Nova?! You're closing on me!? Where else am I going to go at 2am for a vegan pizza and pitcher of Sangria? I'm such a Sad Panda. Nova rocks. I tip my hat to you, Nova. You will be missed. -Jenn S
Why oh why did they ever close this place? Used to be one of my faves. Amazing pizza and the most awesome sci fi outer spacey nerdy vibe. Nothing will ever be as cool. ~Sarah M.
“Human beings live on the surface of a bubble of electromagnetic energy that floats in outer space in a universe which appeared out of the void, instantly, about 13.5 billion years ago. Apparently human beings are embedded in an incredible mystery. Could it be that humans, almost as if by design, are supposed to live lives of profound mythic celebration? Could be!” - - - Missives from Nova
This place is awesome. You feel like you're on the set of Spaceballs when you're inside. I had pepperoni pizza here and it was some of the best I've had in a while. They also make their own sangria and for a pizza place their sangria was effin amazing. Also it was nice to sit next to a 9 foot tall alien that look like it walked off the set of futurama. ~Jenn T
There's nothing in the world quite like Nova Express. Its outer-space-themed decor, its live DJ entertainment, its dusty old sci-fi movie running silently on the black wall, its black-lit vault of Every TV-show Toy Imaginable, and its giant plush Cthulu hanging from the ceiling in the back only start to define the vibe of this earth-bound spaceport.
~Erik H.
I miss this place. It was always a great spot to hang out, especially while out with friends in the evening. I can't say enough about what a gem LA lost.
~Andy S. / Altadena
“Best in LA, in my opinion. Nova was a fresh alternative to the sterility of current cafe selection. The inside was dimly lit with several themed tables; my favorite chair in the house was one that looked like a throne HR Giger might have inspired and the adjoining table had one of those zappy static lightning orbs in the center. Our lord and master' Cthuhlu's image (Kuh-THOO-Loo) in the way of a giant plushie hung in one of the corners, and lots of sci-fi and comic toys adorned the walls.”
“Their food was a big draw for me. As much as I could talk about the decor on the inside, the food has to be of significance. And, here, it was. Their pizza was top notch. There was a pizza joint a few stores down, and I never once felt I needed to go there, because this place here -- a place that didn't specialize in just pizza -- was serving some of the best pizza I've had. The magic was in their dough.” ~ Nova patron
It could be that humans are the Universe trying to be funny. Probably also, humans are the Universe trying to be serious. Are humans somehow being secretly nurtured by an Unknown Force in a Medium of Ethereal Funny?
Nova Express Cafe has existed to make the claim that a unique artistic cafe is an important part of the cultural ecology of the modern urban landscape. It is an art project designed to explore the parameters of how a kind of art, based on the importance of community and generally motivated by an idea of fun, can function in society.
The moment I walked in I fell absolutely in love with the decor!!! With the atmosphere, the fact that it was late night, the glow in the dark, the aliens everywhere, the beer, and the pesto pizza.
OH that pesto pizza!!! Best pizzaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Andrea Z
I miss it a lot more now that it's gone. -William S
Serving Alien Intelligence
My madcap intention for the cafe was that it might help restore to everyday experience some sense of the mystery of life. We usually think that the incredible dimensions of life are somewhere else; at the beginning of time, or at the end of time, or in another galaxy. But maybe this isn't true. Maybe it's all RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!
“I believe the humanizing benefits of art are profoundly important, and I also think that there should just be more art in the world. My hope was to present art under conditions that were open and direct; as part of what it would mean to live in a more open society. Nova Express Cafe was meant to illustrate how art might function in a more democratic, evenly distributed, and less exclusive way.” ~Cary Lewis Long
Project Curator: Jennifer Hyong Un Cho is currently working on Nova Express Cafe: A Voyage Into The Unknown, a web-based gallery exhibit.
Attention Nova fans: If you have photos and stories of Nova, please send to art@irisphere.com. The materials will help Cary’s project concerning Nova Express Cafe. Please put in subject line: Serving alien intelligence.