Cafe 210 West gets a lot of hype, especially at this point in the school year. People are all about 55 Days of Cafe, clamoring to be immortalized on a plaque on the wall of a bar with arguably the worst service and the best pitcher prices in town. Between its live performances and Cafe-oke, this West College bar can get pretty loud at night. We had to wonder, do the people who live above Cafe love or hate their lives? Is their apartment ratchet or awesome as hell? We paid a visit to the tenants who live in the attic above Cafe to find out.

Our first question was how exactly we’d get up to the apartment in question. Tenant Nate Rivera, a senior majoring in Business Management and Communications Arts and Sciences, met us after his second (or third?) drink at Cafe to show us up to his humble abode. Turns out if you’re observant, you’ll notice the door to the residential part of the Cafe building tucked away next to the patio out front.

Rivera, sporting a lacrosse pinny under a Hawaiian shirt with athletic shorts and flip flops, told us the bartender said to him, “Wow, you really do just come down here wearing whatever the hell you want, don’t you?” Since Cafe is essentially Rivera’s basement, his attire made total sense to me. Do you think Chandler and Joey got dressed up to grab a cup of coffee at Central Perk? Of course not. They made themselves at home, just as Rivera does.

The first thing Rivera showed us on our tour of his apartment was the living area. Looking at the ceiling, you can really tell they’re living in the attic of this place. Rivera said there are a few apartments on the floor beneath his that look more normal, but the attic-y look of their place definitely gave it some extra character. Not to mention the turquoise leather couch that takes up the majority of the living room, along with the (perhaps stolen?) “BUMP” street sign.

It’s also important to mention the kickass sound system these guys have. If you’re ever walking on College Ave. and hear the distant sounds of someone blaring “Uptown Funk,” chances are it’s Rivera and his roommates. They blast their music so loudly it can seriously shake the bar downstairs. They’re serious about their music, and they make you dance with them even if you just met them five minutes ago and are only in their apartment to write a Cribs post. You’ve been warned. Also worth noting: the rather expensive-looking flatscreen TV perched atop a mini-fridge. So State.

Next came the bedroom. Typical dude bedroom, except that the bed was actually made and it smelled clean (and not like a stale Natty Light, as most dudes’ apartments in State College tend to smell.) Rivera has a few unique posters, tapestries, and other wall hangings to spruce the place up, and he even made his bed for us. (Kind of.)

Pretty sure it’s mandatory for guys to have some sign with a sexual innuendo hanging on at least one of their walls. The Sports Illustrated clippings really pull this whole wall together.

Here we have a few beer steins from various nations, a cocktail shaker, and a picture of Rivera’s family at a sporting event together. (Awwww!) And some kind of commemorative glass trophy sort of thing from the Blue & White Society. You go, Rivera. Good job.

Easily the coolest part of Rivera’s room, though, has to be this stellar view of Cafe. We caught him on a rainy day, so we didn’t get his usual view of a hundred people drinking in the sunshine on this back patio. However, Rivera says that he will often be at his desk doing homework and his friends will yell at him from that back patio to come downstairs, or will wave up at him. So basically, just know that he can see what you’re doing back there. He’s more or less omnipotent, with this view.

There you have it! If you’ve ever looked up at the top half of Cafe and thought “I wonder what’s up there,” now you know: a pretty average downtown apartment with above average views and some oddly shaped walls and ceilings. And of course, the shortest walk to Cafe possible — and the easiest way of knowing how long the line at Cafe is at any given moment.

Think you (or somebody you know) has an even better looking dwelling for us to photograph and feature? E-mail me at [email protected] with a few snapshots and I’ll be the judge of that. My credentials? I watch a whole lot of HGTV.

Photo: Steffen Blanco/Onward State