PORT ANGELES — Only a few weeks after the first Pacific Reign teen event, the nonprofit youth activity group might have a place to call its own sooner than it had imagined.
Lisa DelGuzzi has offered the donation lease of a 1,500-square-foot space in a building she owns at 1020 E. Front St. for the teen group to use as a coffeehouse and teen hangout.
“I grew up in Port Angeles. I remember there wasn’t much to do,” DelGuzzi said.
The space hasn’t been occupied in more than 15 years and needs a lot of work but provides both indoor and outdoor space for the teenagers to create a place of their own, she said.
DelGuzzi said the use of the building as the Pacific Reign teen center isn’t a done deal, pending permits and evaluation of the condition of the building.
“A lot depends on the city,” she said, referring to whether the permits would be available for teen use for the space.
Members of Revitalize Port Angeles and the Port Angeles Citizen Action Network (PA CAN) have been working with a committee of high school students to create a nonprofit coffeehouse and hangout for high school-age youths in a friendly and safe place.
Modeled on the Boiler Room, a teen-run nonprofit coffeehouse, music venue and hangout in Port Townsend, the Port Angeles teens planned to operate in temporary, borrowed venues donated by the businesses’ operators.
DelGuzzi’s offer came out of the blue, said Leslie Robertson, founder of Revitalize Port Angeles and adult adviser to the Pacific Reign committee.
“It was a lot faster than anyone expected,” Robertson said.
She said the building needs some work, including paint, cleaning and possible removal of some non-structural divider walls to open up the space.
Adult volunteers are needed to help with some of the technical details, such as determining which walls can be removed, how to go about fixing up the building, a bathroom upgrade and other work that will need to be completed by adults, she said.
Robertson said much of the work to make the donated space into an attractive place for teens can be done by youth volunteer members of Pacific Reign.
“A coat of paint can do a lot,” she said.
Elijah Dumdie, 18, chairman of the Pacific Reign planning committee, has said the plan is to eventually hire students as baristas and rotate through those who apply to give as many teens as possible the work experience.
Pacific Reign will be different from other teen centers opened in the past because it will be teen-operated and teen-run, Dumdie said.
Adults act as advisers and supervise the management of the business side of the center, while the teens schedule activities they know their peers want to take part in rather than what adults think teens want to do, he said.
Initially, the building was home to DelGuzzi family business offices, and in the late 1990s, the space housed the state Department of Human Services for a few years.
The property is located between Kid’s Kampus Preschool and Daycare and The Quarry store, and has a fenced grassy courtyard with alley access just two blocks away from Civic Field, where many high school athletic activities are played.
The first Pacific Reign event, held April 21, was a karaoke night at Bada NW Coffee Bar, 118 W. First St., that attracted 78 teens.
An Ultimate Frisbee and beach volleyball tournament for teens initially scheduled for Friday has been postponed.
The teen group is applying to the city to hold it at West End Park using the two pocket beaches and grassy circle, but no new date had been set as of Tuesday.
They plan to sell root beer floats at the tournament for $1 to earn money toward future events and coffeehouse materials.
Longer-term plans include additional karaoke nights at borrowed coffeehouses until their own location is ready, a summer water balloon fight and a beach cleanup followed by a bonfire and barbecue.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
