PILSEN — After more than six years in Pilsen, the owners who founded popular La Catrina Cafe in Pilsen served their final cup of abuelita hot chocolate Sunday.
Diana Galicia and her husband Salvador Corona, co-owners of the coffee shop at 1011 W. 18th St., hosted a closing celebration on Sunday to bid farewell to the neighborhood that has cherished the coffee shop.
Galicia and her husband announced the final celebration on Friday via Instagram.
The closing comes two months after owners announced plans to close the shop and move to Guanajuato City, Mexico, opening a new community hub there. At the time, they aimed to sell the café.
“You guys showed us what we’re capable of and we want to bring that to another part of the world who needs it as well,” Galicia and Corona wrote in a Facebook post.
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The couple opened La Catrina in March 2013 and it quickly became a gathering place for residents in Pilsen.
In March, Galicia and her husband downsized, closing the cafe’s event space and outdoor patio. Galicia said at the time “business had slowed down.”
RELATED: La Catrina Coffee Shop In Pilsen Set To Downsize This Month After Decline In Sales
From the beginning, Galicia and Corona wanted the shop to be a place where neighbors could meet.
Over the years, the cafe became a reliable spot for residents and neighborhood groups to host meetings, open mic nights, theater performances, book readings and signings, and various markets — all for free. Galicia and Corona were also founders of The Gabriel Project, an organization that aimed to provide resources for young adult artists in memory of their son, Gabriel Cisneros, who died in 2016.
Galicia could not be immediately reached Monday morning.
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