Saul Martinez has poured his soul into opening a new coffee shop in downtown Pasco. The building even wears its heart on its sleeve, as an anatomical drawing of the organ decorates the building’s facade. 

“It’s a love letter to the community,” he said.

Café con Arte opened in January at 430 W. Columbia St., across from Peanuts Park, where Pasco’s seasonal farmers market is held. Its English translation tells you exactly what the business offers: coffee with art. 

But the intention is greater; the cafe serves Indaba coffee with a shot of culture, courtesy of a collection of rotating art featured on the walls. It’s what you’d expect from a longtime visual arts high school teacher who likes to sculpt and grew up exposed to a variety of cultural experiences.

“My older sister would take us to museums and galleries, and I even had a teacher from France, and for her, teaching the Renaissance was hyper-important, and having that cultural enrichment,” Martinez said. “Fast forward to now and teaching 11 years at New Horizons (High School) in Pasco, and I can’t think of the last time my students had that opportunity.”

Who better to provide that opportunity than their former teacher?

When working in an alternative school, students don’t typically celebrate themselves, he said. “It's just an environment, more so than their aptitude. It’s just how they grew up and how they were raised where something’s lacking. So, I think that’s where the vision came from, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to create space that celebrates itself?’”

The former director of the Dia de los Muertos scholarship fundraiser and a commissioner for the Pasco Arts and Culture Commission, Martinez joined with another person who helped launch the vision, but has since stepped away from the yearlong project. 

‘Dreaming big’

Martinez was inspired to temporarily leave teaching and open the cafe, located in a uniquely shaped building that’s been a rotating door of businesses. He had scoped out the property years ago when he first started visiting the Tri-Cities from Walla Walla.

“I would be driving around, dreaming big, thinking, ‘This would be a great art studio space,’ and one of those spots was in downtown Kennewick, but the one that always caught my attention was this piano-shape building, thinking that would be incredible. Anyone I mentioned it to, they’d think I was crazy.”

Some of the windows were boarded up and there were pallets leaning against the walls, but Martinez has an eye for seeing potential. 

“It was a diamond in the rough, very much like downtown Pasco. It kind of stayed a joke where anyone who would entertain the idea of doing something downtown, I would say, ‘It’s a great space for a coffee bar or a wine bar.’ But I wanted them to run with the idea; I never thought I’d be the one,” he said.

He found inspiration in Susanne and Jessie Ayala, who opened Pasco’s Ciao Trattoria in 2021, an Italian restaurant about a block away from Café con Arte on North Fourth Avenue. 

The couple have since expanded their venture to include Pasco Hamburger Company out of the Pasco Specialty Kitchen on South Fourth Avenue. They have plans to open a third eatery, Imbibe, also on North Fourth. Ciao Trattoria began as a food truck and catering business before opening a restaurant during the pandemic and offering cuisine that hadn’t been available in Pasco’s downtown core.

“They were really the ones who took the biggest risk with something outside of the typical businesses you see downtown,” Martinez said. “They went with an Italian-Mediterranean restaurant, and it was super brave, and they’re a family I need to applaud. There are players in downtown who want change, and if it wasn’t for them, who knows, I might not (have opened) here today.”

A place for Pasco’s community

Martinez also credits investments made by the city of Pasco, especially in creating permanent infrastructure for the seasonal market, or mercado, to nurture the downtown’s growth. 

The city is excited to celebrate this latest addition. 

“It’s truly special,” said Jacob Gonzalez, community and economic development director for the city of Pasco. “I think for years and years, I don’t know how many surveys had been conducted that said, ‘We need a coffee shop downtown.’ And not only did we get a coffee shop downtown, but we got it across the street from a significant public investment at the farmers market. When you kind of zoom out and think about the impact that just this business will have on the overall community and businesses down there, it’s truly special and the initiative and resilience they have is just tremendous.”

Martinez hopes to return to teaching one day. He said if the shop can be profitable, that would be ideal, but he’s also rewarded by offering a “third space” to a community that so desperately wanted one.

“Why is Pasco not deserving? You go to Richland or Kennewick and you have so many options. You come to downtown Pasco and it’s crickets for us. I see how the community’s been embracing it, like, ‘Ah, we’ve been waiting for a space like this our whole lives,’ kind of thing, and that, to me, is so rewarding.”

The cafe serves Indaba coffee with a shot of culture, courtesy of a collection of rotating art featured on the walls.

| Photo by Robin Wojtanik

With 21 years in education, he hasn’t left it behind completely. He is building out a creator space within the cafe to teach classes with other artists, offering youth workshops and putting his experience to work. 

“I went to Eastern Washington University to pursue an art degree and then realized maybe that wouldn’t pay the bills. So, I ended up dual majoring and getting a secondary endorsement in education, so my Plan B turned into my Plan A, but, no regrets,” he said.

He says he always found teaching to be fulfilling and is already finding that same satisfaction at his cafe. “Two weeks in, when the space is full, and you hear conversations and you see people sharing, you can just see there’s something magical, like social capital.”

“The space they planned and constructed is so intentionally done from the moment you walk in, it just emphasizes community,” Gonzalez said. 

A versatile space

While building a sense of community sounds noble, it doesn’t pay the bills. Gonzalez said his business is both important and economically sound.

“Within a mile or so of downtown Pasco, you’ve got significant major employers from Franklin County, Pasco School District, Pasco City Hall and the Pasco Police Department. You’ve also got numerous local businesses, a lot of them small businesses. When you think about creating a truly welcoming environment, caffeine is such a big part of that,” Gonzalez laughed.

The cafe is hard to miss in downtown Pasco — it is painted black with a white marquee over the bright yellow door.

The walls started as primary colors and were repainted in neutral tones to provide a blank canvas for the art that adorns them.

As Pasco’s only gallery, nine shows are booked for this year, with the current featuring a group of five female artists whose works are intended to break stereotypes. 

A guitar sits out if anyone wants to pick it up and play, and a limited amount of art supplies are for sale. 

Indoor plants are currently available for purchase at Café con Arte, which took them in when a nearby greenhouse was closing for the season. When the weather turns, Martinez plans to add a low fence and outdoor seating and eventually a more expanded menu of food offerings. He also intends to rent the building for after-hours events.

Martinez sees his cafe as a community art space intended to highlight the multicultural tapestry that makes up the Tri-Cities. 

“To see people embrace the arts in their hearts, if it continues on that path, maybe I won’t even return to teaching,” he said.

Café con Arte is open daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. There’s free parking and a bus stop immediately in front of the building.

Go to: cafeconarte.org, @cafeconartetc