Joe’s Cafe closing to mixed reviews

Before there was Starbucks, there was Joe’s Cafe

But like the fading rainbow on the William Street side , its star too is fading – its owner returned to his roots in Portugal, the tables worn, the floor scratched and scuffed,  and the stuffing out of chairs. And after nearly 50 years, Joe’s is closing at the end of October.

But the bedrock of its clientele keep coming to Joe’s – “their” place – even in the waning days. And like it has for years, banter across the room is about people they know and how the soccer season is shaping up. While in the original days the clientele was mostly Portuguese, relative newcomers are from North Africa and West Asia, reflecting the changing culture of the neighbourhood.

Owner, Joe Antunes said he wanted to replicate an older Portueguese style neighbourhood cafe when he opened the place – originally called the Continental – in  1976.   But the area has gone through its own metamorphosis since then and Joe’s looks like something from the old Commercial Drive before gourmet coffee and hand-made toys started drawing customers from across the city, keen to sample more rarified goods. 

The decor in Joe’s is an idiosyncratic melange of the owner’s memories and passions. Posters of bull-fighters and a pair of bullhorns cover the south wall – a nod to Joes’ earlier bull-fighting days –  along with a celebrity poster of Frank Sinatra, and pictures of Joe and his customers over the years. Even a calendar from a local Portuguese realtor and a Winter Solstice card from the Carnival Band. 

“I never went in until today,” said one young woman who recently arrived from Calgary. “There were always just a bunch of old guys hanging around there and I didn’t feel comfortable going in,” she said, referring to the tables of older men both inside and out.

“But now I’m kinda sad it’s going to be closing.” 

Yet Joe’s is not without its scandals. In the mid-1990s, many progressives in East Vancouver who’d been loyal to Joe’s cafe for many years, began to boycott the place after Joe kicked out a couple of lesbians who were necking in the back room.  

And even today some still won’t go.

“Good riddance I say, “ said a woman who used to work at Britannia high school when asked about the incident.  “I don’t agree with that.” 

But for most, those memories have faded or the stories were never known in the first place, and now Joe’s has seen a steady stream of of old and new customers making a pilgrimage to the place, one of the original sports bars in town, because of a hand-lettered sign on the window announcing that it is closing. 

“I met the father of my children here”, said Denise Clarke of Port Moody who stopped into Joe’s on her way home from downtown.  “So this place has a very special meaning to me.” 

“Joe introduced us to this kind of coffee (espresso),”  Clarke said sipping her demi-tasse.  “And it’s still the best.” 

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Party at Joe’s Cafe 8 pm to 11 pm on Saturday Oct 26, 2024 

1150 Commercial Drive (at William)