Quiet Zone : Strains of Classical Music Make for Calm Lunch Period at Elementary School’s ‘Coldwater Cafe’

Silk flowers grace the tables. Dreamy strains of Beethoven fill the air. It is a lunchtime ambience any restaurant owner would be proud of.

But the setting is the black-topped grounds of Coldwater Canyon Avenue School in North Hollywood and the patrons are hundreds of surprisingly well-behaved elementary school students on their daily lunch break.

The genteel scene is the product of a 2-month-old crusade by school officials to turn the midday meal at Coldwater Canyon into a “more dignified” experience. Since August, students have been treated to an atmosphere worthy of Ma Maison or Campanile, the only difference being an occasional lesson in etiquette.

“It’s just lovely,” said Principal Jill Fager, her gaze sweeping over her young charges. “It’s an incredible experience to watch a thousand children eating quietly and listening to music.”

Not to mention putting their napkins on their laps.

Administrators and faculty are already calling the “Coldwater Cafe” a smashing success, one that curbs lunchtime roughhousing and molds youngsters into polite diners.

“It makes it more like a restaurant than a zoo,” said teacher Michelle Rosenbaum. “Now they come to lunch and talk in whispers.”

Resource specialist Dorcey Chernick called it “the most glorious thing that’s ever happened. The misbehavior is the exception to the rule now rather than the rule.”

The transformation from animal house to dining room began when Assistant Principal Jim Morris brought a boom box from home to pipe classical music into the school eating area--an idea he imported from his previous post at El Dorado Avenue School in Sylmar.

Teachers said their students, who were more familiar with raps than they were with rhapsodies, were initially nonplussed but warmed to the idea and soon presented Morris with their own embellishment.

“The kids said we really should have flowers on the table,” Morris recalled with a laugh. “I started getting empty vases on my desk from teachers or vases with silk flowers in them. And some of the teachers had their children make paper flowers.”

One art teacher is planning to stencil “Coldwater Cafe” along a wall in the outdoor, sheltered eating area.

Each day, students spend the first half of their 40-minute lunch period eating to music ranging from Mozart to Tchaikovsky to Gershwin. No talking is allowed until Morris--who previews potential musical selections as he drives to work--stops the music and makes announcements, ending invariably with a reminder of social grace:

“And, boys and girls, remember to put your napkins in your laps when you’re eating.”

Kelecia Byrum, a bright third-grader, said she has always known to place her napkin on her lap, but the mellow music does make for a more leisurely atmosphere.

“It’s not like rock ‘n’ roll,” the 8-year-old said, after finishing a meal of baked chicken, stewed apples and a biscuit. “Rock ‘n’ roll is fast. This is slow.”

“It calms me,” chimed in classmate Michelle Ashton. “It calms my mind, ‘cause sometimes I’m crazy. I talk too much when I’m crazy.”

But for 11-year-old Norma Paniagua, a sixth-grader more inclined to the beat-driven music of the urban dance scene, classical music is a bit too calming.

“It’s boring,” she said, grimacing. “It doesn’t have that much rhythm.”

But Morris, noting that tablecloths will be the next step in the evolution of elementary eatery, said parents have had nothing but positive comments. At back-to-school night recently, “one of the parents came up . . . and said, ‘Are you really going to buy a chandelier? That’s what my son told me,’ ” Morris recalled, chuckling.

The chandelier?

“Let’s see if we can get someone to donate it.”