Cafe Deux Soleils, a hub for community and emerging artists in East Vancouver, closes for good

Cafe Deux Soleils on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver, which has served as a hub for poets, emerging musicians and other members of the community for nearly 30 years, abruptly announced its closure on Tuesday, with a simple post on social media and a hand-written note on the door.

"Cafe is closed forever," the note on the door said, the word 'forever' circled with a heart.

The news shocked regular patrons and passers-by who have come to know the cafe as a reliable place to catch a performance, take a nervous step into sharing poetry, music or comedy with an audience, or just get a bite to eat.

"It sucks," said Colm Knight outside the cafe on Wednesday afternoon, with a guitar in a case strapped to his back. "I just started writing poetry and I looked up online where you can do spoken word, and this was the only place.

"Vancouver needs more community spaces where people can come and do creative things," he said.

WATCH | Vancouverites saddened over Cafe Deux Soleils' closure

This week, the city has become one venue poorer when it comes to that kind of place.

"It's so eclectic and it's so accepting. It's one of the few places you can go to and it's not just about the alcohol or the music — it's about learning about the community," said Jillian Robertson, a neighbour who also stopped by to read a note a patron had lovingly left on the door.

Robertson has lived down the street for 22 years, a few years less than the cafe's 28 years in operation.

"It's one of those places that has just been around for so long," she said, adding that the news actually upset her. "It was a place that really entertained locals."

She adds that the food was good — a point also made by Robert Connely Farr, a blues musician who grew up in Mississippi and moved to Vancouver 16 years ago.

Farr says he liked the veggie burger — he claims it was only surpassed by a burger he had in Athens, Georgia — but it was the live music that originally drew him to the cafe, even before he moved to Vancouver.

On one visit, he mustered the courage to pitch a gig to the owner, which was accepted.

"At the time it was the biggest thing I'd ever done. So I actually played at Cafe Deux Soleils before I even moved to Vancouver," said Farr.

He says he's played there more over the years, attended many friends' shows there, and just gone for the food.

"Those places are critical to the urban fabric of our city," said Farr.

"As an artist, those things are precious. Those venues are precious."

'A refuge for outsiders'

Stephen Taylor, another musician who became a regular at the cafe, said it was a place for people to share ideas.

"It was a refuge for outsiders in a way. It was a place for people like me, off the beaten path," said Taylor. "It sort of represented freedom and artistic freedom in a way. It was a very special place."

He said he was shocked to learn the cafe he used to attend every Thursday night to play the open mic has closed.

"Everything has a beginning, middle and end," said Taylor. "Sad to see it go."

The owner, Jeff Maisonet, said the cafe had become impossible to keep in business.

"I would have had to double the prices," Maisonet told CBC News on Wednesday, adding that finding staff had become an enormous challenge.

He said up until the pandemic, business was going well, but after pandemic-related subsidies ended, the reality of soaring inflation and other pressures mounted.

Maisonet has sold the business, but he says Cafe Deux Soleils is done — he expects a Mexican restaurant to occupy the space in the coming months.