Juston Lee Locklear: Country to Café

Last week, I attended the monthly Independence Business Alliance (our local LGBTQ+ business association) networking event. Always a fun event, it was enhanced this time by the awarding of several community impact grants to LGBTQ+ and allied businesses. One of the grantees was Juston Lee Locklear. Locklear is the owner of Avenues Café, which he describes as a place for “Delicious coffee with a side of community.”

I understand that you’re a Southern fella. North Carolina or North Cackalacky as I like to call it. Does anyone actually say that there?
Yes, when we’re talking to each other. How did you learn that term?

[Laughing] I get around. So tell me a little bit about growing up there.
I grew up on a family farm. We had about three acres of garden crops, rows of corn, collards, tomatoes, broccoli, okra, everything but fruit trees. We also raised Black Angus, goats, cows and chickens. We had one horse but that was more for the aesthetic, not for actual use. It just hung out there. I was a 4-H kid, which I don’t know if they still have any around, but I used to show my goats and chickens in the county fair and win prizes and blue ribbons and all that fun stuff. 

I was my mom’s only child and was raised mostly by my grandparents. That’s where a lot of my cooking background comes from and where a lot of my moral compass comes from. It’s like what would grandma do, you know? When I turned 18, I knew I wanted to be able to be fully me, because in a small, country town as a Black and Native American boy, there are not many opportunities to be queer. So I was gonna go to school either west out to California, or north to New York. I got into schools in both states. But if I needed to get home in a rush and had no money or no access, [I wondered] which would be easier, crossing the country or going down 95? I chose Buffalo, New York and it was a great decision for me. 

I went to a little private Jesuit Catholic school which was funny after growing up with my grandma who was Southern Baptist. She was like, “Do not become one of them Catholics. They believe that you can drink!” I went and I didn’t become a Catholic, but I became more of a spiritual person in the end. That’s where I started my whole adventure in life and living.

Now wait, I know some Southern Baptists who can throw a couple of cocktails back.
True! But in her case, she’s a “good Christian lady.” Like, she’s the type that doesn’t even have her ears pierced because she’s like, “If God wanted holes in my ears, he would have put them there.” And I love that journey for her.

So, what’s your background? I understand that a lot of your heritage is reflected in the cafe. 
Yes, my mom’s Native American and my dad’s Black, so I’m biracial.

I’m mixed-race too. We just had a family reunion celebrating our Jamaican and Irish roots. 
It’s so interesting. I love the concept of being able to mix DNA because you know, it kind of makes you stronger in some capacity. A little melanin in your skin never hurts, especially with the way the sun is now as we lose the ozone layer.

What was a favorite thing about growing up on a farm?
It’s funny. Growing up, I hated being so isolated and being around nature so much. But when I think back, I think I just really hated being alone, hanging out with the animals all the time. I really hated waking up and having to go out and feed the animals and collect the eggs. But now, as an adult, I reminisce about those times and miss them. I mean, the city is great. I love being here. I love to create family and the dynamics that I have now. But there’s something about being able to connect to nature. I find myself going to the Wissahickon and hanging out there or going on long bike rides, just to get away from the city and find my peace and quiet. Realizing that growing up, you had all of that and took it for granted. Now, you’re in the city with all these big buildings and all these strangers. I’m also happy that I learned those farming skills to know that I could fend for myself if needed, growing my own food and taking care of animals like chickens and goats. A lot of people here seem to think that all their food comes in plastic!

Speaking of which, you took your animals to 4-H club and stuff. How disturbing was it to then find them on the dinner table? 
[Laughs] You don’t name them. You don’t name your dinner. Like, we had a herd of Black Angus. That was our meat of choice. Every once in awhile, Black Angus had to go to the big market in the sky, and come home in a bag. In many ways, it gave me a source of pride, which I think relates back to my Native American roots. The idea that this animal lived his best life, we treated it well. It had more acres to roam than I do now. It’s lived its full life cycle and it gives back to us for giving so much to it. I totally respect and understand why people go vegan and vegetarian due to the factory farming industry. But it changes when it’s a family farm. When you find a way to be sustainable and do things with pride, I think you find love around it. [Laughing] But do not name your dinner plate. Not healthy.

My ex-girlfriend was Greek. When we went to visit her family in Greece, her aunt asked, “Do you want chicken or lamb for dinner?” I said chicken, and the next thing I heard was a loud squawk! I was like, “Oh man, I didn’t mean to make that decision. But I’m glad I didn’t ask for lamb!” 
Right? It can be challenging, but I definitely have full-on knowledge of how to go from raising the chicken to cracking the egg, and processing the chicken to get prepared for the fryer. I remember when I was in my freshman year of college and came home for the summer, I thought it’d be super fun and cool to share the process with my college friends; what we do to get ready for a meal, the end of life, the chopping and cutting and everybody was like, “What is wrong with you!?!” I learned quickly that not everyone has a stomach strong enough to withstand what goes into preparing our food. But it is a skill my ancestors have been doing from the beginning. 

What were some of the extracurricular things that you liked to do outside of your chores on the farm?
So my grandmother had an eighth grade education. And that was from the ’60s, which nowadays would be like a third-grade education. After eighth grade, she became a sharecropper. She worked the fields until she was able to work her way up to get a kitchen staff job at a school and then a bus driving gig at the school. She was always like, “For your future, to go beyond me, you’re going to have to have higher education.” So a lot of the extra work I did was school related in some capacity. 

There’s a program that used to exist called the Mr. Wizard program. It was for Native American students and it allowed us to go to the University of Pembroke, which is part of the UNC system. We’d go to the campus, and they would take us to the chemistry lab and show us different experiments. They took us to the campus telescope. We took math and other STEM-style classes to prepare us. 

In a poor, Native American and Black town, you don’t really see much success outside of your community. The goal was to help elevate us so we could do more and see the possibilities in the world around us. So that was most of what I did. I was definitely a nerd growing up. When I became a high schooler, we had another program called the Upward Bound program, which took Native American students from all over the country, and we flew to Colorado where we stayed for six weeks and worked on stem cell programs so we could be prepared for the next academic year. 

What was the nerdiest thing you did?
OK, do not tell anyone! I had a large fish tank that used to have fish in it but I got over them after awhile because they just swam in circles, had guppies and then they would eat the babies! It’s not a fun system to be a part of.

So I dumped it out and filled it with dirt in the backyard. I put moss and some plants in it and created an ant farm. I dug up a colony of red ants, including the Queen because you know being nerdy, I had to have a queen to make it functional. So I dug up a queen and a bunch of worker ants and found some  prepubescent queens and had this whole fish tank set up with little trees and garlands. I would feed it bugs, and let the ants live their best life. I even had a little lazy river so they always had fresh water. That was my biggest little nerdy activity.

When you moved to Buffalo, it must have been a big change. What was the biggest culture shock?
Honestly, for me, it was not seeing many Black and brown people. The county I’m from is called Robeson County, and it’s the poorest county in North Carolina. The population is about 42% Native American and 24% black or some mixture. So when I moved to the city of Buffalo, in a private Jesuit school in a Catholic community, I was like, “I did not realize there were so many white people in the world.” I would see them on TV. That was about it. It took a long time for me to actually find community there. I started looking for Native Americans and there were not a lot of us so I thought, “OK, let me see if I can find Black people to bond with” but they were all very Northerny and Yankee, and I didn’t feel that Southern hospitality I was used to. So that was tough for me. But slowly, I started being able to build community and find my space, but yeah, that was definitely a cold shock to know there were so many Caucasians. [Laughing] I knew they existed. I just didn’t know there were so many! 

That’s funny. What did you study?
I actually got two degrees while I was there. One in marketing, one in psychology, and then a minor in international management. 

Wow, impressive! And what brought you to Philadelphia?
I actually got recruited for a job. When I was living in Buffalo, I was working for a company called 43North, which is a very similar concept to “Shark Tank.” Every year, we give away $5 million to five to eight different startups. I was working with them for two years, running their event side. One of our winners won half a million dollars, and also got funding from another investor, which allowed them to set up in Philadelphia. They reached out to me and asked if I’d consider leaving Buffalo. I’d been in Buffalo at that point for six years and I was over the cold. 

So I met with them, liked the company, and became their project manager. I helped them do events in Ghana, got to do the Essence festival, all sorts of things. Unfortunately, COVID took that job away, and they had to let go of 70% of the workforce, including the co-founder. So I was in Philly, jobless and able to explore. I spent a year getting to know all the hiking trails and after that, I started the cafe and now we’re here. It’s been three years since we opened. 

So tell me about it, first of all, why is it Avenues (plural) Café?
We’re at the corner of Germantown Avenue and Mount Airy Avenue and both of those streets are very prominent in this neighborhood. From Germantown, Mount Airy, to Chestnut Hill, everyone knows this corner. It also transitions to the idea of being a place where connections are made.

What was your dream, your reason, for opening a coffee shop? 
I knew that I wanted to still do events and bring people together. And coffee is my bridge to connect to people that way. Luckily, I have this beautiful space that I’ve been able to build out over the years and use it as an activation. We host a variety of creative workshops throughout the year. There’s everything from poetry to pottery. We’ve had politicians have meetings here. We’ve had community boards. We have meetups here. We host art shows. We host local talent. It’s just a way for me to be able to bring people together while also doing what I love.

What are some of the things that you have coming up? 
We do a monthly art show on the last Friday of the month. This Saturday, we have our farmers market, which we do the second Saturday of each month. It’s a pay-what-you-can model and we have everything from the greens that you need to make a salad to very exclusive mushrooms, like lion’s mane.

In about another week, we’ll have our Avenues Market, which is going to feature about 10-20 local artists, creatives and vendors outside the cafe with live music, to showcase local talent, local creatives and neighborhood.

And how do you incorporate your roots here?
We do it in many different ways. There’s an entire section of the café dedicated to Native American artwork, and I have two other Native American employees on my staff. It’s a very underrepresented community and we found a way to connect here. In September, we have a powwow that’s happening, and I’m going to be one of the vendors there. I’m really excited about that. They’ll have traditional dance, music, and foods along with the vendors. Most people don’t know but according to the census, there are over 5,000 people who identify as Native American in the Philadelphia region. 

I just looked at my notes and saw that you also worked for the Buffalo Sabres. Explain! 
Yes! That was when I was being super butch! 

We don’t usually associate many brown and Black people with ice hockey. 
I know, but I worked in the PR department for the Sabres and now I love hockey! I got to see the behind the scenes and there are a lot of details that go into everything, from the mascot to the players.

What punctuation mark most describes your personality?
An exclamation mark! I use, or over-use, them religiously to the point that after I write an email, I have to close my eyes for a few minutes and then go back and read it again to scale it back so it doesn’t seem like I’m shouting at people. “Hi!!! How are you!!! Hope you’re well!!”

If you were in the Olympics, what sport would you want to do?
I want to be a flipping queen! I want to flip on the bouncy poles. I want to jump on that padded floor in a leotard and serve it! I want to be living my best life twirling those ribbons with my beads clacking in my hair for extra points! 

I love it! So let’s finish with a little bit about your coming out journey.
Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to watch “SpongeBob” because my family thought he was a little “funny” or “fruity” and I remember thinking, “You know, I think I may be a little SpongBobby. Does that mean I’m that word?” They didn’t even want me watching Ellen DeGeneres because she was gay. I don’t think there was necessarily anyone who I had a crush on. In fact, it was kind of the opposite. When I was going through puberty and the boys were changing in the locker room, I was like, “Eww, gross! Cooties!” Looking back, that was probably a combination of excitement and fear that caused me to react that way.

When I did come out, it was before I left for college. I kissed a boy and was feeling weird about it, a combination of excitement and anger and confusion. And I went to my mom, who reacted like a Christian mom from the South, which was to suggest that I see a therapist. But I’m happy to say that she has completely come around now and has apologized for her reaction when she didn’t know better. She now tries to be an ally as much as she can. Super cool.My dad is a military guy, and his reaction then was, “I don’t love you for what you do. I love you for who you are,” which was kind of a backhanded support, but I took it. 

When I got to college, I was able to fully come out and have the queer experiences that make me the fabulous boy that I am today!