The Deep End is a cafe and gallery designed to provide the Ypsilanti community with a new creative space while serving foods and drinks.
“You can be expressive,” Owner Candace Cavazos said. “It’s the place for you to be yourself while you enjoy fresh coffee and delicious food. It’s not your regular cafe. We get lit. We have great philosophical conversations, play loud music, and we have a good time.”
Located at 310 Perrin Street in Ypsilanti, Cavazos and her partner Pierre Goree, established The Deep End Cafe and Gallery to provide an environment for unrepresented artists and writers to showcase and sell their creations.
Kalyn Sanderfer, a long time colleague and friend to Cavazos, also works closely with the cafe as a consultant and partner.
For their food items, the cafe works with The Squeeze Station, a Detroit-based restaurant, which provides the cafe with fresh pressed juice and other menu recipes.
After officially opening on March 25, the cafe prides itself on its healthy food options and ethically sourced coffee.
Their menu includes wraps, quesadillas, breakfast burritos, and protein waffles.
“We get our coffee from a local and national partner,” Cavazos said. “Our partners buy out the lots ahead of the farmers growing the crop for the coffee. That allows people to get paid ahead of time, take care of their families, and have the equipment necessary. This process allows us to have better-roasted coffee.”
In addition to its food items, The Deep End also highlights artists in the community. Cavazos, a Detroit-based poet, said she wants the cafe to become a venue for creators of all backgrounds. The shop, whose theme reflects her passion for artistry, hosts monthly art galleries and live poetry sessions.
“Everything is circumstantial,” Cavazos said. “Anybody can apply to be an artist at the Deep End Cafe. We’re looking for the pressure in your story. Where does your art come from, and why do you feel it belongs in The Deep End?”
The Deep End is hosting an art gallery of work by photographer Derek “Specs” Dandridge. The cafe and gallery will also host a showcase by Southwest Detroit artist Brianna Bryant.
According to Cavazos, each gallery lasts around a month before moving to a different artist.
Beginning in May, The Deep End will host bi-weekly open mics and occasionally host R&B nights on selective Fridays throughout the month.
“It’s going to be incredible,” Cavazos said. “Every month is going to be multiple meet and greets for every artist. The list keeps getting bigger, but we have all of them on our website and keep it updated.“
For artists looking to participate at this cafe, Cavazos said that she will give any artist an opportunity if they can tell their story.
“The Deep End refers to a situation In which a person must face a difficult problem or undertaking with little or no preparation or prior experience,” Cavazos said. “Those are the artists that I want to celebrate, the people who come into life and get hit with circumstances that put them under pressure and marginalize their identity. They’re fighting and being excellent anyway. We’re here to celebrate those people.”
For anyone looking to showcase their art at The Deep End, Cavazos encourages everyone to apply on their website at tdecafe.com.
“Never fold under pressure,” Cavazos said. “If you stand on everything you believe, it always turns into a diamond at the end because you are in the deep end.”
Antonio Cooper is a freelance journalist from Detroit, Michigan. His coverage of music festivals and interviews with local celebrities appeared in The E-Current Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times, XXL Magazine, RichMagDigital, The Ann Arbor Observer, and Pop Magazine.
