A pair of Salt Lake City coffee shops have become cafes worthy of the stars.
Both Higher Ground Coffee on 2005 E. 3300 South and Mestizo Coffee House at 631 W. North Temple will be temporarily transformed into Luke’s Diner — the fictional coffee and breakfast spot from the hit television show, “Gilmore Girls," — on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
The show, which ran from 2000 to 2007, tells the story of Lorelai and her daughter Rory Gilmore, who live in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. In the show, which will celebrate its 16th anniversary Wednesday, the Gilmore women also visit their friend Luke’s diner, aptly titled “Luke’s Diner.”
As USA Today reported, Netflix has decided to turn more than 200 coffee shops, including the aforementioned Utah cafes, into versions of Luke’s Diner in order to celebrate the release of “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life,” a Netflix original that will mark the franchise's return. The four-episode series debuts on Nov. 25.
“Each temporary Luke's will include décor from the show, such as Luke's signs, Luke's aprons, Luke's backwards caps and Luke's coffee cups covered in Gilmore Girl quotes,” according to USA Today. This will include the “No cell phones” sign from the TV show.
Special Luke’s Diner cups will be used. For those who don’t drink coffee, you still have a chance to get your cup, as the store’s managers told Deseret News that they will sell other drinks in those themed cups.
You can win prizes, too. Cups have secret messages written on the bottom that could win customers some free months of Netflix, according to USA Today. Both Higher Ground Coffee and Mestizo Coffee House said they offer Snapchat codes on their cups that allow customers to win prizes.
Marrissa Kilpatrick, manager of Higher Ground Coffee, said that there’s also a contest where customers can take pictures with their baristas and share them on social media, giving them a chance to win a free year of Netflix.
Netflix reached out to both Higher Ground and Mestizo three weeks ago, asking if the cafes wanted to take part in the promotion, both managers said.
Adriana Martinez, supervisor and assistant manager of Mestizo, told the Deseret News that she accepted the offer because she knew some of her staff were fans of the show.
But she knew the general public would enjoy the “Gilmore Girls” theme, too. She said she posted the Facebook event for the promotion on Monday and it’s already received 211 likes. People have tagged their friends and shared it on their pages too, which, she said, shows how much people care about the show.
“‘Gilmore Girls’ — it’s been around for 15 years,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s been a part of … pop culture and people really love it and hold it to heart.”
Herb Scribner is a writer for Deseret Digital Media.