Liberation Cafe Archive

See the full PDF archival of materials that were preserved and scanned by Liberation Cafe co-founder Pat Tassoni. Thank you, Pat, for sharing these materials with us! 

The Liberation Cafe was an activist space that formed in 1996 as a place for people to work, collaborate, host events, and engage with community. The cafe occupied the top floor of Bulldog News in downtown Olympia where Da Nang restaurant is today on the corner of 4th and Washington. Over the course of three years and the efforts of a small core group of organizers, hundreds of people passed through and benefited from the Cafe. It was a prolific space for activists and artists. There were hundreds of events and workshops in the few years it operated – everything from a mask-making workshop for the Procession of the Species, to Cop Watch trainings, to the Sex Workers Art Show. It also drew notable speakers, including Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky as well as beloved local artists like Nomy Lamm, Kathleen Hanna, Slim Moon and Arrington De Dionyso, who performed at the Spoken Word night. It served as an incubator for nonprofits that are still around today, including our local harm reduction network, EGYHOP. 

The need for affordable space is a theme that comes up repeatedly in our conversations with activists and creatives in our town, even as property costs continue to rise exponentially. The Liberation Cafe lost momentum and ended in 1999 when its hosting business Bulldog News closed down.

People Involved (an incomplete list)

• Pat Tassoni (co-founder)
• Tara Perkins
• Peter Bohmer
• Clint Burelson (co-founder)
• Frank Hoffman
• Dan Leahy
• Tom Nogler
• Pattie Imani
• Nomy Lamm
• Courtney Bennett (Olympia Zine Library)
• Hali Panneton

Affiliate Organizations

• Olympia AIDS Prevention Projects and Youth Projects (OAPP and YAPP), later became EGYHOP when the needle exchange became legal
• Books to Prisoners
• Feminists in Self-defense Training
• City Limits Independent Musician’s Union (Andras Jones)
• Olympia Zine Library
• SMAK- Single Mothers Art and Kids
• Radical Alternative Media Project
• Sustainable Community Roundtable 
• Community Sustaining Fund
• Postal Workers Union
• Copwatch
• Works In Progress community newspaper 
• International Workers of the World (IWW)
• Olympia Movement for Justice & Peace
• The Evergreen State College Political Action Committee student group

‍Highlighted (and incomplete) List of Shows and Events

• Noam Chomsky
• Olympia Zine Library opening with Old Time Relijun, Lowdown, the Early Morning Initials, Northern Spy, and Mary and Khaela
• Betsy Grace, Rebecca Pearcy, Tenth Street Kitchen (a fundraiser at Studio 321)
• Puppets for Peace, Puppets for Justice, New Prison Art from the Inside Out, (April 1998 artswalk)
• Elihu Rosenblatt - Prison Activist Resource Center- February 26 in Library Lobby? and February 27 at Liberation Cafe 
• Howard Zinn - February 4 at Capital High School
• No Use for Abuse weekend of healing
• US War against Iraq forum with Ellen Hinchcliffe and Ruth Wilson- January 16, 1998
• Sex Workers Art Show
• Stephanie Coontz
• Tim Wise
• Spoken Word Night (Books to Prisoners benefit) with Nomy Lamm, Kathleen Hanna, Arrington De Dionyso, Slim Moon, Teva, Fiore Mills, Tiokasin, Doranne Crable, Ricardo Wang, Betsy Grace, Susan Lasiter, RK Gupta, Mike Cousino, Kristin King, others

• Procession of the Species mask-making workshop
• International Women’s Day Riot Grrrl Olympia event
• Social Justice and Equality in Olympia conference- 3rd Annual on November 9, 1996
• Mary Lou Lord
• Youth Art Show
• Arlo Guthrie and Abe Guthrie Liberation Cafe and Works in Progress benefit at the Washington Center
• Annual Mayday events
• From the Ground Up Activist Skill-building Conference

Some of the Regular Meetings

• Weekly Spanish classes
• Weekly Books to Prisoners meetings
• Weekly IWW meetings
• Candidates forums- school board
• Olympia Aids Prevention Project 
• Youth Liberation Front
• Cop Watch trainings
• Dollar movie nights
• Open hours

Do you have more history to share about this space? We'd love to hear from you. Share your stories here.

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