Vancouver’s Main Street reopens after $26M makeover

In Vancouver, Washington, you could easily pass by and miss this small breakfast joint, but owner Karen Carlton is proud of her restaurant’s storied history.

Opened in 1932 as a soup kitchen during the Great Depression, Joe Brown’s Cafe has remained in the same location ever since and retained original features such as its counter and grill. It’s also where founder Joe Brown developed his caramel corn recipe before expanding the business to Portland’s Lloyd Center in the 1960s.

The diner, one of the oldest businesses on Vancouver’s Main Street, changed hands in 1985, when Carlton’s husband, Lewis, took over. Carlton still remembers how supportive he was of the Main Street redevelopment project before his death in January 2025.

“He kept saying, ‘It’ll be so nice when it’s done.’ He was all for it because it needed to happen — they did the sewer, the gas, the water, the electric — that stuff was so old,” she said. “It’s just gonna bring more and more people down, because look at how beautiful it is over there on the waterfront to the west.”

If Lewis Carlton were still alive, he would likely celebrate the official reopening of Main Street on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 7. A block party, set near the historic Kiggins Theatre, marks the end of less than two years of work on the city’s $26 million reconstruction project. The construction has challenged businesses along the stretch, but officials say the project promises long-term economic benefits for the downtown core.

The redevelopment project, which officially broke ground in early December 2024, was intended to improve Main Street’s deteriorated, aging infrastructure between 5th and 15th Streets and transform the stretch into a more attractive, pedestrian-oriented public space that encourages activity in Vancouver’s historic downtown.

Besides rebuilding century-old utilities beneath the newly paved street, the project features new traffic signals, outdoor seating, decorative overhead lighting and accessibility upgrades, such as curbless extended sidewalks, tactile guidance and audible crossings. It also features removable bollards along eight blocks, allowing the street to be closed to cars for pedestrian-only events.

The city said that after Main Street’s official reopening, minor work will continue through the Thanksgiving holiday, including the planting of more than 100 trees along the street.

Related: Vancouver’s Main Street redevelopment pauses during holidays to support small businesses

Michael Walker, executive director of Vancouver’s Downtown Association, a nonprofit that advocates for the city’s investment in the historic downtown, said the redevelopment of Main Street was completed about five months ahead of schedule. Walker credited the faster timeline to the contractors figuring out quicker ways to work.

Walker compared the atmosphere of the redesigned Main Street to that of pedestrian plazas found in Europe. Beyond its new look, the redesign serves a more practical purpose.

“But in essence, the core of the project was to make Main Street safer, more accessible and more connected,” he said. “From a long-term perspective, Main Street will connect more with the waterfront and the Esther Short Park area, so I think it’s a natural draw. With all the new lighting that’s been installed, it really creates a welcoming environment for folks to visit during the nighttime.”

The Main Street improvement project took around three years of public consultation, design and reconstruction, relying on funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and a mix of grants and other local sources.

The project had been three decades in the making.

In 1993, the city planned a two-part project to improve the street. But because of financial constraints, it was able to complete the Uptown Village portion to the north but not the historic downtown section to the south. The city’s second attempt to improve the southern portion of Main Street advanced as far as final design and extensive public outreach before the 2008 recession dried up funding.

The city said a total of 26 businesses opened or expanded on Main Street or within a block of construction during the project. But Walker acknowledged that the construction period was difficult for businesses, with restaurants generally suffering more than retailers. Walker said Vancouver’s Downtown Association tracked about four businesses that closed during construction, though he cautioned against attributing every closure solely to the project.

Joe Brown’s Cafe owner Karen Carlton compared the disruption caused by the Main Street construction to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was forced to eliminate the restaurant’s four-table parklet, lay off two employees and cut other workers’ hours.

“People couldn’t get here,” she said. “They had to park quite a way and walk through gravel. There were times where there were boards to get around the corner and through our door, and they weren’t sure we were even open. We kept hanging signs up around the corner saying ‘We’re open, we’re open,’ but a lot of people just didn’t even wanna come downtown.”

Across the street from the cafe, La Fiesta Mexican Kitchen saw an estimated 60% drop in sales after construction began in January 2025, according to co-owner Jose Garay. The restaurant sits at the corner of Main and 8th Streets, where surrounding blocks were under construction.

“The machines, the noise, the dust, the rain — all that impacted us,” he said. “It was kinda hard for people to get into the restaurant.”

Garay and his wife opened their Vancouver location in early February 2024 after operating the first La Fiesta in West Linn, Oregon, for about 15 years. They were drawn to Vancouver by what Garay saw at the time as the robust growth of its downtown.

Garay said the established West Linn location helped keep the Vancouver restaurant afloat during the downturn. He’s confident the redesigned Main Street, a rebound in business and a new authentic menu specifically for the Vancouver location will help him recoup his $300,000 investment in the restaurant over the next couple of years.

That optimism is shared by Love Potion Magickal Perfumerie & Marketplace, a business at Main and 11th Streets that sells perfumes, jewelry and a wide range of spiritual and gift items representing different religious and cultural traditions.

The business has operated at its current location since 2020 after moving from a previous Main Street storefront that opened in 2016. The store also holds events throughout the year, including Harry Potter-themed activities and a Haunted Doll Gallery during the Halloween season.

Front-of-store manager Mercy Crowe estimated sales fell by around 30% during the redevelopment project but said Love Potion’s established online business and loyal clientele helped sustain its brick-and-mortar operation during construction.

Crowe reported a noticeable rebound in business as construction wraps up, saying the redevelopment project has created “tremendous possibilities” for downtown Vancouver.

“I hear a lot of locals who have been here for years and years and years who say that downtown has really changed, and it’s starting to feel a lot more like a larger city,” she said. “We’re just seeing more and more people coming to downtown and actually spending the day just walking up and down the street and checking out all of the stores, so that’s fantastic.”

Back at Joe Brown’s Cafe, Carlton watches as people featured in photos her late husband took in the 1980s, pinned to the restaurant’s walls, continue to come back. She’s already excited about celebrating the diner’s 100th anniversary in 2032, building on the devoted following she and Lewis cultivated over the years — though she hopes customers won’t wait for another milestone to return.

“I always say, ‘Well, don’t wait another 90 years — I won’t be here,’” Carlton said, laughing. “We’re not going anywhere.”