Cafe Con Leche

"[Tell me about Cafe Con Leche. How it came to be. The niche it filled.]

In California I threw myself into spirituality. I spent several years completely immersed in Buddhist practice and study. In February of 1990, the president of the largest Buddhist organization in the world visited Los Angeles. He encouraged us to go out in the world and follow our dreams. Keith died the same month. In the deepest sense I knew I had to go back to New York to represent his spirit. I did not tell anyone because I did not want to be disrespectful and I had a long journey ahead of me to even really know myself. New York was a dead zone in 1990, everything was splintered. You had your white, black, and Latin gay clubs and your white, black and Latin clubs. Only a few promoters like you understood the value of creating a great mix of people in a club. Derrik Foxx, Robert Owens and I had a great party called Visions. Keith’s protege, Andre Charles, and I formed Urban Works, we worked as consultants for Unique, the center of our world on lower Broadway, and handed out fliers for all the clubs as well as did our own art-oriented UB events. I formed Cafe Con Leche with Naudio Feliz. Naudio’s passion was and still is to share and celebrate Latin culture. I knew Latin culture was the bridge that would bring the gays, the straights and the not quite sure together! I brought Keith Haring’s spirit to Cafe and Naudio and others of many backgrounds supplied the beautiful Latin bridge and Cafe became a true treasure of many people’s lives, including my own." - Joe Sheridan, interview in Blackbook