Decades before the 3600 block of Navajo Street was lined with modern apartment buildings and trendy pilates studios, it was filled with galleries. The Navajo Street Art District thrived in the 1990s, but rising rents, taxes, and gentrification pushed the galleries elsewhere, all but erasing this cultural hub from the map.
Dot Williams and her partner, Jamie Richards, are determined to bring it back to life. The pair purchased a coffee shop on the corner of the block that was closing down, reopening as Art Club Coffee.
Their mission: To create a queer-owned space where people feel safe and welcome. That goes for patrons, but also for artists who want to display their work along the gallery-inspired walls. “It is completely free to submit your work,” Williams told me in a recent conversation. “You are welcome to sell it and we don't take any commission — we just want people to show their art.”
Williams and Richards also wanted the coffee shop to function as an inclusive third space for their neighbors. They do so by hosting free events, such as a creative and coffee night every Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. In true Navajo Street Art District fashion, their space attracts creatives of every kind.
“We've had coders coding games, or DJs building set lists. We've had oil painters, crocheters, knitters, collage artists, illustrators, kind of all walks of creativity,” Williams says. “You're also invited to just come and see — you don't even have to craft or buy anything.”
Art Club Coffee is currently hosting a curated gallery show featuring queer artists, which visitors can view throughout June.
Another way Art Club Coffee helps people feel comfortable is their atmosphere of old-school items that brings people back to a simpler time.
“It's a bit of a time warp here. It's got a lot of analog TVs and nostalgic touches throughout the space,” Williams said.
And they are also, at all times, very proudly queer. “We're here to celebrate each other and create a safe space where people can be themselves.”
