TWIN LAKES — When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, one thing that can cheer you up are friends... or at least the couch from the popular T.V. show 'Friends.'
At Cup O' Joe in Twin Lakes, you can sit on an exact replica of the 'Friends' couch while sipping a cup of coffee. It's one of only 20 in the world. They were made by Warner Brothers to be used for promotional purposes at pop-up shops around the world. Through a charity auction, Cup O' Joe won it.
"We ended up raising almost $12,000 for Children's Hospital," owner Dena Prestininzi said.
You can sit on an exact replica of the couch from friends in Twin Lakes! It's one of only 20 in the world. Warner Brothers have the other 19 in storage. pic.twitter.com/xBG73v7qWv
— James Groh (@JamesGroh_) July 2, 2020
Prestininzi set up a GoFundMe to raise the money for it, and the community rallied behind the idea.
Now the cafe is outfitted with much more than just the couch. Life-sized cutouts of the actors stand behind the couch. Posters, signs, and cups from the show also decorate the cafe. There is even a merchandise section with small couch earings.
It's become wildly popular.
"True die-hard fans will come in here and act out scenes they recite the lines to the show it's just funny. If nothing else, it's a great people-watching experience for sure," Prestininzi said.
A map of the U.S. has pushpins plotted all around it showing where all the visitors to the cafe have come from. Some have even traveled from Italy.
Cup O' Joe's charity endeavors didn't stop at the donation to Children's Hospital.
To sit on the couch, you have to pay for a reservation. The fee changes depending on how long you plan to sit there. All those reservation fees are donated to a local charity that changes each month.
Cup O' Joe is open at 7 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
