The Beat Coffeehouse Calls It Quits

If you were waiting to drink your last espresso at The Beat Coffehouse, you’re too late. The six-year-old coffee shop on Fremont Street poured its final coffee on Sunday.

In its place comes Eureka!, a restaurant group out of Hawthorne, California, that plans to open a 177-seat restaurant in the space. Neighboring Emergency Arts will condense its space in the building. By mid-2017, guests will dine on locally sourced ingredients in the dishes and drink classic cocktails, small batch whiskeys and 40 craft beers.

Back on July 1, The Beat Coffeehouse owners Michael and Jennifer Cornthwaite wrote a long goodbye to fans on Facebook.

It was more than six and a half years ago when El Cortez allowed us to take over a big portion of the former Fremont Medical building and turn it into a hub for creative people. This crazy experiment, lots of risk-taking, building, creating, and collaborating has lead us here, to a time when things are changing.
El Cortez has an exciting development opportunity that they can't pass up. As a result, the first floor of Emergency Arts, including The Beat, will be changing and we will be forced to close our doors. It's not a surprise, as when we started this project we knew that the days were numbered. We were blessed to receive more than we ever planned, but certainly it feels like there weren't enough.

Please know that your support and patronage helped a small coffeehouse and record store survive and even thrive over these several years. We began with one little espresso machine, a $60 cash register, a little passion and lots of elbow grease. Please know that we did not fail, we succeeded. With your support, an independent, home-grown coffeehouse stood tall against the odds. We hope to have done our part in improving downtown and bringing together such amazing people over the years. At The Beat and EA we tried to make a "normal" place for people to enjoy, relax and mingle. We are in awe of the people's passion, creativity, willingness to help fellow artists and neighbors. The neighborhood has evolved, artists have come and gone, and we have grown our family within these walls. We are happy, and grateful.

We appreciate El Cortez for these years, for the initial opportunity, and continued support. The landscape of the streets in 2009 was much different than it is today. We would like to think that The Beat played a part in all of the meetings, first dates, start-up companies, engagements, coffee dates, laughs, cries, music, making new friends, and keeping old ones. The Beat and Emergency Arts have been parts of our families. Our team now and over the years has been a privilege to work with. The Artists and creative people have not only been part of the building, but part of the fabric of downtown. The intention to bring together some of the most interesting, creative, caring people in the city worked. In the coming months we will be keeping Emergency Arts active on the second floor, and hopefully in the future.. the third. El Cortez is excited to do a little sprucing up of some of the building, which we know will be a welcome improvement to some! Emergency Arts 2.0 might be a little less gritty, but it might also bring surprises that are unforeseen, that part we know. The Beat, however, is leaving for now, but will someday appear in another location. One thing we know for sure is that the future always has surprises in store and things always work out for the best.