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Netflix brings “Gilmore Girls” coffee shop to Fort Worth

By Colleen Mortell

Published Oct 5, 2016

Fans dressed up as Luke to celebrate their free coffee. (Courtesy: Valerie Gozzo).

Today, the coffee shop from the hit series “Girlmore Girls” came to life as fans lined up to get a chance to step inside. By 7:30 Wednesday morning more than 150 people had lined up at Fort Worth’s Buon Giorno coffee shop. It wasn’t the promise of caffeine, but rather a chance to experience “Luke’s Diner” located in the show’s small town of Connecticut. In honor of the show’s 16th anniversary, coffee shops across the country were temporarily transformed. Netflix, the streaming service that’s rebooting the series, gave away 250 free cups of coffee. Every state had at least one coffee shop stand in for Stars Hollow’s favorite restaurant, according to Netflix. Buon Giorno was one of the 14 Texas locations. The shop’s general manager, Courtney Reed said she’s from Connecticut and is a huge fan of the show. Buon Giorno’s baristas wore Luke’s signature uniform: a flannel shirt, diner t-shirt and a baseball cap on backwards. Many of the fans wore flannel too. The shop on Florence Street just south of downtown, posted a Luke’s Diner sign outside its front door. Luke’s memorable “No Cell Phones” was posted on the wall. Coffee quotes from Lorelai and Rory Gilmore were written on a chalkboard wall. “It’s given me a lot of nostalgia feelings about the show,” said Hannah Taylor, a TCU junior writing major. [envira-gallery id=”1173162″] The event ran from 7 a.m. – noon, or while supplies lasted. By 7:10, the crowd snaked around the entrance and down sidewalk.

The line outside Buon Giorno at 7:15, Wednesday morning. (Colleen Mortell/TCU 360).

Taylor and her friends waited in line for nearly two hours. “I was not expecting the line to be this long,” she said. “We’ll see if we actually get one of Luke’s coffee sleeves.” The Walgreen’s across the street warned that it would start towing, after vehicles belonging to Gilmore Girls fans filled the drug store’s parking lot. Most people learned about the event online through Facebook or a variety of articles. Netflix has a four episode revival planned. “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” is set for release Nov. 25. Each 90-minute episode is set in a different season: winter, spring, summer and fall. “It made me a little more excited about what to expect from the show in November,” said Clare Wilson, a junior applied geoscience major. A senior psychology major, Dylan Gulbronson, has already started a countdown to the premiere. “I’ve probably seen every episode at least 40 times,” she said.