Inside The Crystal Voyage, calming music plays as fountains burble.  One west-facing fountain centered in a large window features three dolphins frolicking, spouting water.

At a table, Matilda prepares to read tarot; the atmosphere in the space is conducive to that sort of thing.

Underneath the shop at the Mystic Mocha Cafe, art hangs by Mary Johnson, Ellen Miffitt, Dana Brownfield, Andrea Newell Greenfield and one grouping with the signature “Matilda.” Same person?

Annette Hall asserts this to be the case with the interesting tidbit that Matilda the Mystic is former military, as is Hall.

Hall says she joined the Marines “just after Vietnam” and stayed in until “just before the first Iraq War.”  After 16 years, she and that branch of service parted ways after the Marines suggested she be a certain weight. She chose civilian life and hasn’t looked back since.

Several years ago, she and her husband were running a coffee trailer on 176th Street. 

The Halls next venture took them to Sixth Avenue between Washington Mutual and the Bank of America, but Hall suspects the chain link fence separating the trailer from the road might have impaired business.

She explains the connection with a joke: “Why did the blonde climb the chain-link fence? To see what was on the other side.”

The two Halls and a third partner landed on terra firma at their current shop. Her connection with the owners of The Crystal Voyage led Hall to approach them about tenancy as the shop came open, she recalls. “Crystal said talk to Keith, and I did, and he said, ‘I think we have our new tenants!’”

What’s available from the Mystic Mocha Café? Everything from Lattes, Hershey bars, Fritos and Tylenol to soups, salads, and sandwiches (the tuna on a croissant that I had was tres yum!)

And is it weird that Hall’s two partners are her now ex-husband and her boyfriend?

“Not at all,” she explains, “My ex-husband’s new wife will come in and help sometimes, we all work together great.”

And in point of fact, based on their interaction as they communicate an order that has come in through the window (there’s a walk-up window in the parking garage under the building) that does appear to be true.

But it’s hard to imagine disharmony around Hall, since she exudes a sort of caffeine-like positive energy and peppy humor. 

But the good vibes could also be helped by the location.

Hall agrees, talking about how she loves the proximity her shop has to The Crystal Voyage. “I love going up there.” She adds, “I’m very metaphysical in my focus.”



[Crystal Voyage, 2601 E. D St., Tacoma, 253.272.4367]

[Mystic Mocha Café, 402 E. 26th St., Tacoma]