This queer-owned Everett café wants to be a catalyst for its community

EVERETT — In the supernatural TV series “Lost Girl,” there’s a bar called the Dal Riata.

At once cozy and ancient, it’s a way station where the show’s light and dark fae can rest, shove aside their burdens, throw back a few pints, truly be themselves. Eternal feuds and saving the realm can wait; here, there are no rivalries, no fights. It’s a neutral place, a rest stop between the hard stretches of the hero’s journey.

Adair Gearhart wants Catalyst Café to be that place for the real world. There’s less magic in the cafe than in the show — one of Gearhart’s favorites — unless you come in during Drag Night. But it’s no less needed for those who crave company and community.

After two years in a tiny but often-packed location on 23rd Street, Catalyst Café is now in the process of taking over a larger space in downtown Everett. Besides expanding the coffee selection and adding new treats to their inclusive menu, Gearhart wants to build a queer-centric community space that’s open and friendly to longtime regulars and curious new neighbors alike.

“I love anything supernatural or sci-fi, and in those stories there’s always ‘the place’ where everyone gathers for a drink at the end of the mission,” said Gearhart, owner and sole employee of Catalyst Café. “I want to be that place. We need that place.”

On a Tuesday afternoon, Gearhart blasts country music from their phone as they swatch green paint on the walls of their new location at 1709 Hewitt Ave. The building has lived countless lives since its construction in 1899, most recently as JaRay’s Grill and Lounge. But, from the instant Prohibition was repealed, a prevailing theme among all its tenants has been booze, Gearhart said.

That’ll change as Catalyst sets up shop. Gearhart served up all kinds of delicious drinks at the previous location at 1513 23rd St., from oat milk lattes to cortados to pickle shots — an invigorating dose of the spicy brine from a jar of dills — alongside a wide selection of sandwiches with herbs grown in-house and pastries from local bakeries South Fork Baking Company and Superfree Bakehouse. The new location will feature Stubborn draft sodas on tap in rarified flavors like black cherry tarragon and lemon berry aςaí.

But you won’t catch any alcohol on the menu, even at the café’s regular and rowdy drag shows.

Gearhart, who’s been sober for years, set out to create an all-ages, sober-friendly space for Everett’s queer community when they started the café. They’d seen too many friends’ lives wrecked by substance abuse, a problem queer folks face at higher rates than the rest of the population, according to federally funded survey data. For that reason, they wanted to make sure sober folks didn’t feel tempted or left out.

That meant under-21s could hang out until close, too, unlike at gay bars, which are typically the only explicitly queer-centered spaces in a city, and which are lacking in Snohomish County.

“Queer people with kids exist — I am one,” Gearhart said. “They deserve to be in community, too, without worrying about exposing their kids to stuff they aren’t ready for, and I want the rest of the world to see we exist in so many ways — not just partying and drinking, but in the more wholesome aspects of our lives.”

Gearhart dreamed of opening a café all their life, from the time they were growing up in a tiny town near the Canadian border in Eastern Washington. They moved to Everett in 2010, seeking a home where they felt safe to fully come out as nonbinary and asexual.

After over a decade spent working at Boeing, Gearhart was unsatisfied and unfulfilled. By the time the pandemic locked them down at home, they were ready for a career change, one that would let them feel they were making a real difference. Thanks to their own savings and a generous investment from a former colleague, Catalyst Café was born in 2021.

The old location was cozy and charming in its small size, with work by local artists and friends cluttering the wood-paneled walls, vines and shoots from Gearhart’s plant collection twining every surface, and a gleefully “maximalist” bathroom stocked with free period supplies and even more art. Despite comfortably fitting only about 25 people at once, groups turned out in droves to support karaoke nights and drag performances. Gearhart was soon forced to turn folks away at the door, and they knew when their lease was up this year that it was time to seek a larger home.

The café’s centerpiece was the community board where patrons posted flyers for upcoming events, rallies and mutual aid requests. Befitting the community-oriented ethos of the café, the board — impossible to miss as you walked through the door — was often overloaded with colorful sheets of paper.

Now, Gearhart is ready to expand the board even further: An entire wall of the new café will be dedicated to a supersize version. In the back room, donated and thrifted clothing await sorting as part of a project to help local transgender folks find gender-affirming wardrobes without breaking the bank.

Community started growing organically around the café almost immediately upon its opening, Gearhart said. They’d entered the local coffee world by selling Olympia Coffee Roasting Company beans on social media, and “somewhat accidentally” gained a sizeable following on TikTok before the café even secured a lease. On opening day, the line was out the door.

“There’s just really nowhere else like this,” Gearhart said. “Everyone I talk to tells me they don’t know anywhere else around here that’s so openly queer-owned and queer-supporting, and I think people kind of naturally gravitated to that as they heard about it.”

The café’s logo depicts a caffeine molecule encircling the shop’s name — Catalyst, because Gearhart always hoped it would be the first step in a chain reaction, opening the gates to future queer entrepreneurs and community leaders. As more folks discovered it, conversations over housemade sandwiches and gluten-free pastries were the starting points for activism, parties, events and petitions. Gearhart saw connections being made that they believe might never have been forged if not for the low-pressure, friendly space that Catalyst offered.

“These great little grassroots ideas start happening, and then these people here overheard it because it’s such a small space, and then two tables are talking, and then the whole place is all these ideas bouncing around,” Gearhart said. “I think so many folks just want a place where they can interact with others without the pressure of alcohol but in a community setting.”

Soon, that community reached more neighbors besides the queer folks who’d quickly adopted it as their own. Jean Carrillo first found Catalyst through a mention on Nextdoor and quickly came to value it for its flexible menu options. She was often feeding picky grandkids and appreciated that Gearhart was always willing to make substitutions or try something new to accommodate their palates.

She soon became a valued regular, and when the café announced it was moving, Carrillo volunteered to help get the new space ready for business. On that Tuesday afternoon, she arrived with painting clothes in tow, ready to help deck out the plain white walls in shades of green.

“It’s a space that’s so loving and understanding, so willing to help,” Carrillo said. “I’ve had a lot of years with the English language and old habits sometimes die hard, but if I mess up on someone’s pronouns, everyone is willing to be patient with me and let me fix my mistake. Everybody’s very, very kind and loving and accepting of everybody. We need more of that in the world.”

Catalyst has long relied on volunteers, culled from among regulars and Gearhart’s friends, to fill the gaps Gearhart can’t as the café’s sole employee. Gearhart said they’ve always been clear that they can’t yet afford to pay anyone, but friends kept coming in to help run the cash register or grill sandwiches, and now they spill in throughout the afternoon to see if any more painting help is needed.

It’ll be nice to hire employees when they can, Gearhart said, because they’d really like to have a weekend off for the first time in years. But ultimately, they said they finally feel they’re living out their life’s work.

“I always say we’re a community center that just happens to make coffee,” Gearhart said. “The coffee is what keeps the lights on, but the people are really what make us.”

Catalyst Café, 1709 Hewitt Ave. in Everett. Temporarily closed for renovations. Visit linktr.ee/CatalystCafeWA to get updates via social media and contribute to the renovation project by Venmo, CashApp or Amazon wish list.

Riley Haun: 425-339-3192; riley.haun@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @RHaunID.