Reported on Aug. 29, 2009

Michelle Cruz slid to the edge of her tall, wooden stool and glanced from the book cradled in her hands to the author sitting on a lower chair about 10 feet away. Her dark brown eyes squinted as she raised her thick eyebrows.

“You’re right,” Cruz said to Thembisa Mshaka, who was reading passages from her book, “Put Your Dreams First,” at Cruz’s East Harlem Cafe. “It’s not just about knowing how to run a business. You also have to understand how to run yourself as a business, and that requires a whole different set of talents.”

Cruz opened the East Harlem Cafe last October and has actively branded it as something more than a cozy spot to sip a cup of macchiato, spicy chai or an authentic cafecito. More than that, the cafe is evolving into a community hub where locals, activists and artists gather to share ideas, learn and support one another.

“Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to my culture and the history of my people,” said Cruz, a 36-year-old Nuyorican who was born and raised in East Harlem. “So I use the cafe as a vehicle to educate myself and others. It’s not only a taste of culture but also an embodiment and a history of it. And it’s not about Latino culture. It’s culture. That’s what East Harlem is all about.”

Manny Vega's mosaic of the East Harlem Cafe's slogan. Photo: Ashley Mayo

The cafe’s slogan is “A Taste of Culture,” and one way that Cruz transforms this coffee shop into a cultural vehicle is by hosting weekly events that include book signings, writers’ clubs, comedy hours and fundraisers for political campaigns and local organizations. The bookshelf against the wall even comes down to become a stage when Cruz hosts a play.

Cruz announces these events on the East Harlem Cafe’s Web site and Facebook page, and stacks piles of fliers on a table under the long, wooden bar, next to a large chocolate-colored sofa that sits alongside a panel of floor-to-ceiling windows.

“I’ve had more than a dozen book signings at the cafe,” said Aurora Anaya-Cerda, 30, who owns an online bookstore called La Casa Azul, which in Spanish means The Blue House.

When Anaya-Cerda moved to East Harlem from Los Angeles three years ago she realized there wasn’t a single Spanish-English bookstore in a neighborhood dominated by Latinos. So she’s been trying to open one for three years, but hasn’t gotten a loan big enough to own an actual store.

“This cafe saves me because it’s as if for two hours I do have a bookstore,” said Anaya-Cerda. “Michelle provides the space, I provide the books.”

With earthy colors, brick walls and two oversize sofas, the cafe, which is roughly 1,200 square feet, a bit larger than a typical one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, doesn’t look like a Latino hangout.

“When I opened the cafe,” said Cruz, “a lot of my Hispanic friends asked me, ‘You gonna have bright reds and yellows?’ Well, the taste of culture is in the events I have here and the art on the walls.”

The art Cruz referred to consists of eight mosaics that grace the sepia brick walls, created by Manny Vega, a local artist whose fame has transcended the area.

Manny Vega poses in front of the mosaics he made, which hang on the walls of the East Harlem Cafe. Photo: Courtesy of Manny Vega

“Art is about bridging between people. Bridging between cultures,” said Vega, whose mosaics in the cafe range from a portrait of Benny Moré, the famous Cuban crooner, to a portrait of Laura Cruz, Michelle’s younger sister and full-time employee.

“What Michelle is doing is great. People see this cafe as a cultural hub,” he said. “We don’t have enough meeting places in East Harlem, so it fills a much-needed gap that the neighborhood needs.”

Anna Smith, who was initially attracted to the mosaics when she first started visiting the cafe, founded The East Harlem Writers’ Circle, which meets every other Wednesday night at the cafe.

“I wanted to hold our meetings at a place that really displays the neighborhood palate and the diversity,” said Smith, who lives in East Harlem and is working on her Ph.D. in English education at New York University. “It brings people from the area together, but even draws others. There’s someone in my writer’s group that comes up all the way from Brooklyn because he feels like this place is his second home.”

But the cozy cafe on the corner of 104th Street and Lexington Avenue wasn’t easy to open. In its place before were two stores: James De La Vega used to sell his art and T-shirts on the left side, and the corner space was a flower shop. Both stores were closed when Cruz scouted the area.

“Since this cafe is the first restaurant-type business in this space, the Hope Community, who owns this whole building, hesitated to give me the space,” said Cruz. The Hope Community is a 40-year-old, East Harlem-based affordable housing organization.

“They didn’t think it’d make enough money, so they first told me that someone else had the space,” she said. “But finally, after two years of begging, they gave it to me.

And the hurdles continued. Cruz, who became an accountant after graduating from Baruch College, says that the cash going out is outpacing the cash coming in. She had set aside 15 percent of her money as a contingency plan, but it was gone during the construction phase, before the cafe opened.

Cruz said the sandwiches and salads, not the coffee, “are what keep me open.”

“People don’t put $10,000 aside because someone might cheat you or because your equipment might break down quickly,” said Cruz. “You just don’t think of those things, but they happen. In a way, Aurora’s situation is a blessing in disguise. She’s building her capital now, so that when she does open her bookstore she’ll have enough money.”

Underestimating the initial capital required to open a small business is the biggest mistake made by new entrepreneurs, according to the New York City Department of Small Business Services.

“Most people forget they need to use their own money to buy the products they plan to sell,” said Laura Postiglione, department press secretary. “That’s why we offer bridge loans, which are very short loans that last about a month or two.”

The department supplied free, customized services to more than 12,400 entrepreneurs in New York City in the past year, including Cruz and several other small businesses in Harlem. And Cruz received loans from the East Harlem Business Capital Corporation, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and Seedco.

“It’s normal to get a loan from one corporation,” said Cruz. “Two is less common, and three is excessive. But nobody gave me enough money, so I got loans from three corporations.”

Cruz never knew she’d open a cafe just blocks from where she grew up. But about six years ago, when she and her 12-year-old daughter moved back to East Harlem after living in Jersey City for a little more than a year, she yearned to become more than a resident. She wanted to contribute to the community, and realized that coffee is a big part of Latino culture.

“Everything happens around coffee,” said Cruz. “When bad things happen, we talk about it over cups of coffee. When good things happen, we celebrate over cups of coffee. People never leave. We’re always making more pots of coffee.”

Cruz quickly became a student, researching everything she could about coffee, going to coffee trade shows and subscribing to coffee magazines.

“My first boss once told me, ‘Whatever you do, do it so well that other people come to you to ask you questions,’ ” said Cruz. “So that’s what I’m doing. I’m trying to become an expert.”

She eased her way into selling coffee by providing it at meetings held by Poetas Con Cafe, which translates from Spanish into Poets with Coffee, at the Modesto Flores Community Garden, right next to the cafe. She said, “that’s when the buzz about my coffee started.”

But Cruz was never 100 percent sure the neighborhood needed a coffee shop. After reading “Pour Your Heart Into It,” written by the CEO of Starbucks, she learned that the company thoroughly researches an area before dominating it.

“The fact that they decided not to come into East Harlem was scary for me,” said Cruz. “What makes it so bad?”

Graciano Matos, a Puerto Rican who has lived in East Harlem for 11 years, thinks he knows what’s wrong.

“The East Harlem Cafe is important because it keeps some aspects of the culture alive,” said Matos. “On the other hand the death of the social clubs, the smaller street festivals and the elimination of the conga players means that only those who have an interest in the type of events they sponsor or who can pay have access to them.”

“What would people do if East Harlem Cafe closed?” said Matos, repeating the question he was asked. “I would add, what would the El Barrio intelligentsia do if it closed? I’d think that another would open up somewhere. I have seen a few open and close. Of course I hope that it never happens, we need the East Harlem cafes. But this alone will not do.”

Vega didn’t agree with Matos.

“The old way of living is dying on it own,” said Vega. “Guys that were playing the congo have grown and aged and are moving out of East Harlem. There’s nothing wrong with another band of people coming in with new music and new murals.”

“I call myself a Globorican,” added Vega. “Who’s gonna remember Puerto Ricans in East Harlem? How are they gonna remember us? One way is through this old, classical art form. The mosaics on these walls transcend cultures and will transcend time.”

Cruz eventually wants to own three cafes in East Harlem—a second that’s “chic,” and a third that’s “Victorian,” and her intense passion for transforming this coffee shop into something much more meaningful is blatantly obvious. She gets to the cafe before it opens and often stays until after it closes, working more than 70 hours a week.

“Barista Magazine lists the 10 great women of coffee,” said Cruz. “I want to be one of those women within the next five years.

Cruz leaned forward and smiled. “I know that’s a big goal, but I can do it.”