Get a coffee and hookah fix at local internet cafe

By Josh Spooner
The Collegian

A different kind of café is located in the River Park shopping center next to the Hooters restaurant — My Internet Café. This is a new style of café that brings a big-city feel to a not so big-city town.

My Internet Café has been operating in Fresno for two years said owners Yirjanik and Molly Ohanian.

Yirjanik Ohanian said, “This is the only true Internet café in town.” The idea for My Internet Café, according to Ohanian, is based on the cafés and lounges of the bigger cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego.

The interior has a very modern look to it. The walls in this dimly lit business are covered with very abstract paintings, which are highlighted using black light.

This sets the mood for a very relaxing place. While patrons relax here, there are a number of things available to them.

My Internet Café has a full kitchen that is open all night and customers can order appetizers, dinner or desserts. Not to mention the drinks available, ranging from sodas, smoothies, lattes and espresso to different beers and wines.

One could come here and enjoy a nice cigar or spend some time relaxing at the provided oxygen bar.

As its name states the cafe also provides Internet usage to customers. The café has two stationary desktop computers with wi-fi Internet connection that are rented either by the hour for $8 or a half hour for $5. Yirjanik Ohanian said customers can also bring in their laptops for repairs and My Internet Café can ship them out to be fixed.

“We are like a Starbucks and Kinko’s in one,” said Yirjanik Ohanian. “We can send and receive faxes, do prints and provide computer Internet for public usage.”

They also provide club cards for the Internet usage. They have a gold card that allows unlimited use of the Internet for one hour a day everyday, for the amount of $20 a month.

For $30 a month you can get the platinum card, which gives you the same Internet deal as the gold card, but also entitles you to 10 free specialty coffees, throughout the month. Students also get a 10 percent discount with their student identification card.

The most interesting and new thing about My Internet Café is that not only is it an Internet café but within the past four months it has also turned into a hookah lounge.

Hookahs are used to smoke herbal tobacco, some of the tobacco is flavored and some is not. Hookah smoking is one of the biggest growing trends right now.

According to Yirjanik Ohanian, it takes about an hour to smoke one hookah with four to five people sharing it.

Not only do they rent hookahs, ranging from $12.99 to $18.99, for use there. They also have a small amount on hand for purchase. Like the club cards for the Internet use they also provide a hookah punch card where if you pay for five hookahs you get a sixth for free.

To go with the hookah experience Yirjanik Ohanian says that on Thursday nights starting a 10:30 p.m. they have belly-dancing performances.

Yirjanik Ohanian said, “The older more conservative people in this town don’t really understand us.

They just don’t get why you would go to a place like this to use the Internet, because they have it a home. You come here for the experience. This is a place for the younger crowd, students and other people from 18-35.”

Information Box
Hours:
Sun. – Wed. 6pm – 1am
Thurs. – Sat. 6pm – 2am

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