Rust is Gold Coffee shop has become a hot spot for motorcyclists and vintage car owners to meet up before a cruise.
The shop is equipped with helmet holders and motorcycle parking, as well as an in-shop bike garage in the back. Musical ambiance was alternative, punk and some rockabilly; there’s merchandise to peruse, and fun motorcycle memorabilia to look at while waiting for a coffee.
Owners Thaison Garcia and Steve Maes said the most popular drink by far is the Honey-Lavender Latte. The owners explained they started the shop in hopes of bringing coffee, community, and motos all together.
Garcia said his antique business offering motorcycle and hot rod parts, as well as working on motorcycles for the last 15 to 20 years started to get attention from the community.
“We just felt like it was the obvious next stage to merge a coffee shop with antiques/motorcycles,” he said.
Garcia explained this is not a new concept, just new to Albuquerque, and there are similar types of venues such as Dale’s in California that was one of the first motorcycle coffee shops, with others in places like Austin, TX, or UK as well.
“The earliest version was called the 59 Club, which is a racer café where car enthusiasts gathered in East London in the 60s and 70s,” Garcia said.
Maes said he doesn’t believe there are many gathering points in the northeast heights area, and he said since the last year-and half neighborhood folks have come in and praised the location as a great meeting spot since covid.
“I think now with the mask mandate being dropped some, and it warms up, we do hope to see more folks out here, cause that’s what we’re about, being part of this neighborhood,” Maes said.
The shop hosts music events and car club meetups as well. Garcia said the first Friday of every month the shop has a singer -songwriter performance series called the Americano which will start in May. Every second Sunday is a Cars and Coffee meetup, and every fourth Sunday is Motorcycle Meetup.
“We also do a charity event we run every two months where a barista can pick a charity of their choice and create a drink special with a portion of the drinks profits going toward that cause,” Garcia said.
He explained they’ve done the charity around half-a-dozen times and had organizations come out for a check ceremony.
Maes said the current charity is for Rock 101, which is a music school for kids, and the drink special is the Blue Moon Tea. The next charity will be for the ABQ Free Fridge.
For more information about upcoming events, click here. The owners also do a podcast from the shop, and if interested in vintage motorcycle shop talk go to http://www.rustisgoldracing.com/rigr-podcast/s
