Brighton’s Cafenation Transforms Into Luke’s Diner for a Day

Attention Gilmore Girls fans: A part of Stars Hollow is coming to the Boston area this week, ahead of the show’s reprise this November. Netflix will transform 200 cafes across the country into Luke’s Diner for one day, bringing Stars Hollow’s best-known source of coffee to life on October 5.

The lucky Massachusetts spots that will play host to Luke’s Diner this Wednesday are in Brighton at Cafenation (380 Washington St.), and in Lynn at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee (61 Munroe St.), a Netflix representative confirmed to Eater.

Visitors between 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. will receive a free coffee (assuming supplies last). There will also be a "surprise" for visitors under the Gilmore Girls coffee sleeves made in honor of the event, and the coffee shops will be outfitted with some Luke’s paraphernalia, including branded aprons and t-shirts.

While the Luke’s Diner transformations are part of Netflix’s efforts to promote the four 90-minute episodes of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life that land on the streaming service on November 25, the date of the event bears significance for the series. Gilmore Girls first aired on October 5 in 2000, so this event celebrates the 16th anniversary of coffee-coffee-coffee, rapid talking, and backwards baseball caps warming our hearts.

For those outside of Massachusetts, there will be other Luke’s Diner pop-ups in Providence, RI; Portland, ME; Manchester, NH; and Hartford, CT; but if you’re in Hartford, might as well just keep driving to Stars Hollow (aka Washington, CT).

Update, 10/5, 9 a.m.: A line for the Luke's pop-up stretched down the street outside Cafenation Wednesday morning.

Dana Hatic

Dana Hatic

• Drink Free Coffee Like a Gilmore Girl at Hundreds of Luke’s Diner Pop-Ups Across America [E]