Most art viewers clambering across a construction site on the west side of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in late August were hardly aware of what was being erected in the North Miami neighborhood. Everyone was just there to attend the annual opening of Optic Nerve VIII, which features a selection of 15 short films by South Florida artists.

But during her speech before the screening, Bonnie Clearwater, MOCA’s director and chief curator, made it garrulously clear that Starbucks is coming into town.

Briefly, the speech had touted the caliber of the artists in this year’s show, albeit without mentioning specific names. Rather, the crux of this opener focused on the show’s sponsor, which had set up a nifty stand dishing out frozen lattes in the outdoor garden.

Clearwater cheerfully announced that a Starbucks, one that would feature live local music and film screenings, was being built next door to the museum, and tirelessly thanked the company for its support and for providing the funds to purchase a piece from Optic Nerve (Jiae Hwang’s animated short, “Storyteller: I Am the Smallest Planet of My Own”). The museum director then proclaimed her anticipation for the chain store’s opening, promising that “extraordinary people” will be gathering there. And after the screening, everyone received Starbucks gift cards, to boot.

That feeling of excitement, however, was not exactly echoed by the owner of Luna Star Café across the street from MOCA, a truly homegrown and bohemian coffeehouse, beer bar and live folk music joint that’s been around for a decade.

“As soon as I heard, I thought, well here’s another corporate-monger coming into a city that is lacking character already,” lamented Luna Star owner Alexis Sanfield. “I knew from the get-go that MOCA never supported little places like mine, but of course they’re all gung-ho about Starbucks. We knew something like this would happen.

“Personally, I think Starbucks is part of an evil empire,” Sanfield added. “It’s part of the Wal-Mart syndrome, and people just don’t understand that they are contributing to these corporations that are taking over the world. We have them on every corner and they make it seem like that’s all we need – you are a robot, you must buy this brand.… People just go there because of a name, they’re conditioned. Some people say it won’t impact me, they’re trying to look at the positive aspect, like how it might bring more people into the neighborhood, but, you know, where there’s a Starbucks, there once was a real coffeehouse.”

Founded in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, the Starbucks Coffee House incorporated in 1987 and soon set up establishments in Chicago and Vancouver. Today Starbucks has proliferated into some 2,000 stores in every state in the country. A search on www.switchboard.com revealed there are 128 Starbucks listings within a 10-mile radius of North Miami.

Luna Star has operated at its 775 NE 125th St. location since it opened in 1996, and every whim and idiosyncrasy has been welcome. Besides coffee, the place has an exhaustive, world-spun selection of choice beers, including rare, tasty trappistes imported from Belgium. You can also chow on deelish sandwiches, salads and pasta.

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