BRATTLEBORO -- The Common Ground is open again and former patrons are streaming in. For decades this legendary worker-owned restaurant, housed on the second floor of the former Elliot Street firehouse, drew free and creative spirits into downtown Brattleboro. Many stayed, in the process changing the character of this commercial hub of Vermont's southeast corner.

Back in 1971 when it first opened, the Common Ground's shared tables and original art, the long buffet at which customers were expected to serve themselves soup and salad, and the window to which they delivered their dirty dishes -- never mind the armchairs and countercultural reading material -- were all radical departures from the restaurant norm. Soup was 20 cents a cup, 40 cents a bowl, and homemade yogurt was 35 cents.

"Our idea was never to make money. Instead we wanted to create a nice place in Brattleboro to congregate, an excuse to bring people together," says Norman Kuebler , one of six graduate students who opened the Common Ground with $600, raised by selling $50 memberships. This was a "consumer co-op" whose members received a 10 percent discount on food

"We tried to serve food that was pure," Kuebler recalls. The hand-lettered menu featured locally grown veggies and whole grains, raw honey , and house-made granola, tofu and tempe , and carob instead of chocolate.

Throughout the '70s hippies founded and filled communes in the backcountry around Brattleboro, augmenting the number of young people already at nearby educational institutions and burgeoning music centers. The Common Ground flourished, changing its bylaws in 1977 to become worker rather than consumer owned.

Despite the practice of rotating staff through all positions, from dishwasher to chef, the Common Ground became widely known in the 1980s for the quality of its food, especially the pastries. Then talented staff left to start their own enterprises, pretty much all the best restaurants and bakeries in Brattleboro today. Common Ground stopped formally serving food in 2002 but maintained the tradition of offering free Thanksgiving dinners to all comers. Last Thanksgiving some 700 dinners were served, days after Common Ground was relaunched, with a lot of help from its friends.

The entrance of the Common Ground on Elliot Street in Brattleboro

"Everyone in town feels like this is their own place. A few people own it now but there are thousands of people who feel that way," says Ian Bigelow, 24, a second-generation worker-owner. A board has been formed, loans guaranteed, legal fees and a business plan furnished pro bono.

Past patrons will notice that the Common Ground's open kitchen has been upgraded, that credit cards are now accepted, and that the former radical reading corner is now filled with toys. Staff members, currently numbering 15, receive pay commensurate with their position s and no longer rotate.

Yet much is unchanged. Tips are still pooled and decisions are made collectively, with input from all the staff as well as a board of directors. The menu is still "pure," featuring organic and local, with vegan and vegetarian as well as meat and fish choices. There is no microwave.

At lunch recently I helped myself at the buffet to the $5 "People's Meal": soup of the day (ingredients included kale, mushrooms, and miso), organic greens, cornbread, and tea.

The dinner menu is more varied and still evolving. Wednesday is burger night (choice of a cashew, turkey, or beef burger with beer is $10) and on Thursdays there are guest chefs. Andrzej Mikijaniec gets rave reviews for his homemade kielbasa, borscht, and latkes, and Esteban Oliveras , the regular lunch chef, alternately offers genuine Mexican fare. Live bands perform during Gallery Walk, the first Friday of each month, and there's mellow acoustic guitar music with Sunday brunch.

The Common Ground's rebirth is proof that in this highly artistic and activist community , the spirit of the '70s continues to thrive.

Addendum, fall of 2007:
The Common Ground was not able to make a go of it after all and closed its doors for good in November of 2007.

Contact Christina Tree, a freelance writer in Cambridge, at ctree@traveltree.net.