Help Save the Landauer Mercantile Building, Home to Oblique Coffee Roasters

Earlier this month I got an email from a reader:

“Looking to boost this to help out a local small business, a pillar of the community, and a damn fine coffee shop: buried on an Oblique Coffee Roasters’ March 7 Instagram post was a nonfunctioning link to a GoFundMe page. Looks Like they are going to need some assistance to quickly retire debt and save the business … I like Oblique Coffee, it’s a fun, funky space with a whale of a backstory and great music, and I hope this neighborhood gem will be spared from an uncertain fate.” 

I reached out to John Chandler (aka Jack), the man behind Oblique, shortly after that and we met for a chat and a great cup of coffee on the topic of the needs behind this fundraiser.

The Issue at Hand: Liquidation as a Possible Future

The GoFundMe page has a lot of background information on Oblique and its owner, Jack. Essentially, there is a divorce in play and the distribution of assets that come with the dissolution of a marriage. Jack and his ex-wife are each entitled to half of net equity of the property, as per law in Oregon, and in order to keep the building he’d have to buy out the other owner. This payment is $120,000—not chump change, by any means. If the money isn’t there by the time it is needed, the asset is to be liquidated, essentially losing the family house and business. This is, to quote the GoFundMe plea, “a monumental lift.”

This building holds the business, Oblique Coffee Roasters, but it is also Jack’s home with his children above the shop. Essentially, if the place closes down they would be losing their home and the community will be losing a unique coffee shop. Even if he has a contingency plan (i.e., moving), it’s very difficult to make the transition, and can upend the sense of security the children have. 

On top of that, Jack  is still recovering—though doing better as the days, months, and years pass—from a serious motor vehicle accident in 2008 that broke his body and has left residual issues, including blood clots and vascular damage, as well as PTSD.

More About Jack Chandler

I did not know Jack before this (aside from him making me a latte months ago when I got curious about this place after seeing them on Instagram), but we had a lively and interesting chat Monday morning. I learned that, along with his love of coffee and his kids, he has worked as a commercial fisherman, races bikes on occasion, loves to surf, is a musician, and tunes his own piano, which lives at Oblique. Speaking as someone who learned how to tune harpsichords, clavichords, continuo organs, and fortepianos in my previous life as a classical musician, I know tuning a modern piano is no joke and takes dedicated time to learn. We had a chance to have some nerdy conversations about equal temperament, well temperament, and meantone temperaments, which was very satisfying. 

He served me a coconut milk latte using beans from the Muungano Cooperative in the DRC (“a beautiful coffee”). Now, I tend to drink a lot of coffee from Central and South American countries, so it was nice to switch it up to an African coffee, and it was delicious. The coffee he offers comes from all over the globe: Along with the DRC, there’s coffee from Ethiopia (the world’s oldest coffee culture), Honduras, Myanmar, Sumatra, and Colombia. Such a great variety! He works there 7-days a week, with a little bit of additional help, offering all sorts of coffee drinks and tea. 

As I mentioned, he lives above the cafe with his two kids, and roasts coffee beans downstairs in the back behind the counter. The building means a lot to him—more on the Landauer Mercantile below. 

The Landauer Mercantile Building

In 2007, John found the building: the Landauer Mercantile Building. Built in 1891, he says that it is “one of the last standing Victorian era Mercantiles.” Fun fact: This location has a connection to the circus: “The Landauer family operated the Leondor Family Circus on site, and the Leondor Brothers traveled with the Ringling Circus before the Barnum Bailey merger as an acrobatic duo tumbling act.” 

His hope was to perhaps open a bookstore on the ground floor and live above it. Of course, it ended up being coffee, not books.

When he  acquired it, it was truly neglected (“There was a 70-foot elm tree growing into the basement.”). “It was a total teardown,” he thought, as it was designated as a dangerous building (today you’ll see such buildings wearing a red “U” sign on them—see: the Gordon’s Fireplace building on NE Broadway/33rd as an example) because of the structural issues. But, he figured it all out—especially how to navigate through the labyrinth of red tape in place for projects like these. He ended up spending pretty much all he  had, including a construction loan, on this project, which took about three and a half years to complete. 

The precursor to Vintage Portland blog, “Portland Building Ads,” featured the exterior of the building on their site, saying “I just discovered this beautifully restored sign at the corner of SE 30th and Stark Streets.” An anonymous commenter adds, “The owners put so much money into renovation! That’s my normal drive street to get home, Stark or Belmont, and I’ve seen that building get ripped apart and then put back together. I’ve seen the owners (I think a gal/guy couple) walking around sometimes when I drive by—one of these days I’m going to stop and thank them for the renovation.” I wonder if they ever did.

You can see some of the early renovation work here.

And speaking of money, on the day he made the final payment to the sheetrockers, he was in that serious motor vehicle accident I mentioned above. “On March 6th 2008, close to a year into the renovation … I was involved in a very serious accident where a car pulled in front of me while I was riding my motorcycle on the way to dinner with a friend. Closest ever to death’s door.”

Oblique Coffee Roasters

I remember running across Oblique last year while randomly scrolling on Instagram and thinking, “this is cool looking, and has an old Portland kind of vibe.” It opened in 2010 (that’s almost 15 years ago, if you can believe it). lt feels relaxed in there, even when it’s full of people. When I was there it was a mix of students studying together, regulars coming in for a coffee, and visitors from out of town. One of the visitors, who is also a repeat customer, said “We come here every time we’re in Portland.”

The cafe has been featured on Portlandia and the Food Network, too.

As I mentioned earlier, they do roast their beans on site. Jack hired a professional coffee roaster early on who taught him what he needed to know about roasting coffee beans, and now he enjoys the effort to bring out the best in each batch of beans. He aims for a balance of brightness and sweetness in each roast. 

You can choose from a variety of classic espresso drinks, as well as chai, matcha, and teas, plus dairy and alt milks. You can purchase bags of beans to take home, too.

They are open 9am to 3pm, 7-days a week. Hours have been scaled back over the years due to Jack taking the kids to and from school .

The Goal? 

So what’s the goal in all of this? Essentially he wants to stay in place, raise his kids, and contribute to the community. He loves this building and his work as a roaster and cafe owner. He loves his community, and if he is able to stay would like to add a stage and have more live music happening. And he needs your help to make this a reality.

And if he is forced to make other plans, it has occurred to me that, especially since this is a corner lot, the building could be torn down and (arguably, with a different aesthetic) housing built in its place (it is a 4,715 sq ft lot). Indeed, Portland needs more housing—especially missing middle housing—but it would be a shame to lose this piece of history in our fair city. Not only is this a historic building, but it is the home to so many collective memories in Portland (there are also historic objects placed throughout the cafe, some found during the renovations).

I encourage you to head over to the GoFundMe and see how you can help. And if that is not an option for you, stop by the cafe and have a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy the space. It’s not like many other spots in Portland. It’s definitely worth your time. 

Best of luck to Jack and his family as they work to meet this challenge. I am hoping for the best outcome possible.

Oblique Coffee Roasters
3039 SE Stark Street, Portland
obliquecoffeeroasters.com | Instagram | Facebook
GoFundMe campaign