It wasn’t hunger pangs or the recommendation from a friend that first led Crystal Barber to the Latte Da Coffee House and Wine Bar in uptown Vancouver.
It was fire and flames.
“We live in the area, so I would drive by there all the time,” Barber said. “One day, I saw flames and smoke coming from the back, like something was wrong.
“I got out and saw that there were kids roasting marshmallows over a fire pit and people sitting around talking and having a good time.”
It was at the precise moment when Barber – who now makes up to two stops a week at Latte Da – realized this wasn’t you’re ordinary coffee stop.
“The atmosphere there is incredible,” Barber said.
This was exactly the response Scott Flury was looking for from patrons when he “cashed in his 401k and maxed out his credit cards” in 2010 to open Latte Da a year later at 205 E 39th St.
“We tried to get loans,” Flury said with a laugh. “This was quite a leap of faith.”
To be sure, Latte Da isn’t your run-of-the-mill coffee house. When Flury bought the craftsman house, which was built in 1901, the last thing he wanted was his customers to merely be a name on the side of a cup.
“We wanted to do something that would build the community and help bring it together,” Flury said.
Flury has accomplished this by essentially turning Latte Da into a community rec center of sorts – one with great coffee and a menu that includes food, beer and wine.
“We like to say this is where Vancouver meets,” said Sarah Flury, Scott’s wife.
Latte Da offers a meetup for pups and pets, trivia night, a sip-n-paint night, open-mic night and much more. Determined to do even more, Flury has also embraced the community by offering support for local nonprofit businesses.
“We try to do what we can for nonprofits and help out where we can, and we’d like to give more,” Flury said. “I think it’s important if you want to see change, it has to start somewhere.
“There are a lot of opportunities for us to give back,” he added. “We just feel it’s important to try to make a difference in our community.”
For Flury, this opportunity came along at the right time. He had held several jobs previously, but felt like something was missing.
Oddly enough, his epiphany hit him while having a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
“I was living under everyone else’s umbrella,” he said. “The people I was working for seemed happy. The tipping point for me came when I was working for my brother; I was sitting at a Starbucks one day and realized I wasn’t happy.”
Today is a much different story.
On a cold Sunday afternoon, Flury stepped through the door of Latte Da to see a community group sitting at a large table in the back, a couple playing cribbage, a mom and daughter sipping hot chocolate and a pair of teens studying.
In the summer, the fire pit roars, there are parabolic sails outside to provide cover for patrons outdoors and a spacious patio as well.
“When you walk in, you feel like you’re part of the family,” Barber said. “You want to stay a while.”
Latte Da Coffee House & Wine Bar
205 E. 39th St., Vancouver Founded 2011 www.lattedacoffeehouse.com
