Vancouver’s FIRST downtown espresso shop, Java House, opened 15 years ago in an old Ford automobile dealership showroom at the corner of Columbia and Evergreen.Lonni and Cora Chandler’s Java House has become a social hub of the upscale Esther Short neighborhood, where regulars sip delicious brew, talk about various subjects and banter on a personal level with the baristas. There is a community spirit here that is rare nowadays.
Lonni had graduated from Hudson’s Bay High School so he had a strong connection with the neighborhood. Students would line up outside his fraternity room for a cup of Lonni’s gourmet coffee at Washington State University in Pullman.
Cora and her sisters—including Java House’s bantering barista Doris Perry—fled China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Cora and Doris worked in their Uncle Louis Lee’s restaurant, The Pagoda, in their early teens.
Lonni and Cora met on a blind date, married, and pursued other careers before opening the Java House in May 1991.
Downtown Vancouver left something to be desired in those days with an empty brewery dominating the area, along with transients and panhandlers. But the Chandlers won customers with their good coffee and friendly ways. The baristas learned people’s names, their favorite drink and their personal interests.
Java House serves more than 300 drinks a day and grinds through more than 2 ½ tons of coffee beans a year. Besides coffee drinks-Blends, Velvets, Estates, Decaf, Organic, they also serve fresh pastries, and a wide selection of exotic teas.
When I did the photos and interview this morning, May 5, 2006, I was told that the Java House was Vancouver’s FIRST downtown espresso shop. The only other place I found that mentioned FIRST was ‘The Columbian’ newspaper article written by Ken Olsen, Columbian staff writer on Wednesday, June 15, 2005, pages 1 and 7. The paragraph under the newspaper photo on page 7 reads ‘Java House opened as Vancouver’s first downtown espresso shop…’
Java House is open Monday through Friday 6:00 AM-5:30 PM; Saturday 8:00 AM-2:00 PM.
Instructions for logging waymark: visit the Java House. Log your impressions. A photograph is required at the Java House (inside or outside by the sign) with yourself and/or your GPSr in the picture.