BROWNSVILLE — Three local women are intent on transforming a former art gallery into a sort of portal to Brownsville.
Curio 409, in the former Galeria 409 on East 13th Street downtown, represents a broad vision that encompasses art showings, vendors and/or makers of the unique and unusual, a rentable venue for intimate events and gatherings, and even a temporary space for young entrepreneurs taking their first steps in business.
A key aspect of Curio 409 is that it’s ever changing.
Felicia Edge bought the historic building — built in 1852 as the city’s first drug store — nearly four years ago from Mark Clark, the Brownsville art scene pioneer who bought the building in 2005, restored it and turned the space into an art gallery. Galeria 409 operated until 2018 and Clark has since moved to Corpus Christi to open Mi Vida Loca Gallery.
The Brownsville native said she always had a clear picture in mind of what she wanted Curio 409 to be, even if it was tough explaining it to city planning department personnel.
“I wanted to offer in our community a platform for artists, local talent, just anybody that has something beautiful to offer and celebrate all the local people, things, crafts, art,” Edge said. “Give our community a space to celebrate that. That was my vision. It’s kind of vague, I know.”
What’s not vague is Edge’s insistence on taking Clark’s restoration efforts to the next level. Expensive as it can be, she sees the building as a “magical place” that should be treated accordingly.
“I was committed to doing a restoration,” she said. “I was not going to do a renovation. I wanted to be authentic and historically accurate (and) follow all the guidelines.”
With her since the start of the venture has been Esthela Valdez, a contractor who’s worked on other historic buildings downtown. Alexandra Pelaez, former owner of Alex & Raw Boutique, joined the Curio 409 team about a year ago and serves as on-site manager.
In the course of exploring their vision, the team has determined that the best way forward is to offer it as a “transitional event space,” Edge said.
“Whatever it needs to become, we create,” she said. “It’s really just a space that becomes a gallery, a coffee shop, yoga studio.”
Yes, coffee. Husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Ediberto and Lorena Muniz have a six-month agreement (that Edge says may be extendable), to operate 956 Coffee Company, which they started in summer 2021, out of Curio 409.
Pelaez said a once-a-month market day might also be in the offing as a way for people to know that vendors will in fact be selling on that particular day.
“Each month would have a theme,” she said.
Pelaez added that Brownsville is full of creative young people “trying to do great things” and invited anyone who wants to to stop by and see what’s been done to the place (a lot), take in some local art, or shop if there’s shopping to be done. Curio 409’s social media pages are a good way to keep abreast of the latest, she said.
“We also receive messages through Instagram or Facebook,” Pelaez said. “We’re constantly checking and giving information through there.”
From a restoration standpoint, Valdez said such undertakings always pose their share of difficulties, though she agreed “this space is magical” and therefore worth the effort.
“Preservation is one of my passions, and it presents challenges, but everything’s doable,” Valdez said. “Everything’s possible, especially if you have a good team.”
She described Curio 409 as “an amazing project.”
“What I like the most is that this concept is kind of like paying homage to Brownsville and its people,” Valdez said. “That’s the only way that I can describe it. And the only way that something like this could have happened is with a team of women, because we’re stubborn and we always do everything with heart. That’s what moves us.”
She hadn’t intended to initially, but Edge also wound up acquiring the property next door at the corner of 13th and East Levee Street, once home to a car audio distributorship. It needs a roof, which she intends to provide, along with a roof-top bar and full commercial kitchen. A portion of the first floor will remain uncovered courtyard, and eventually there will be Levee Street access to the whole thing, Edge said.
But that’s all down the road a bit. For now, she and her team are focused on cultivating Curio 409 as a place of and for Brownsville.
“The proper definition of curio is a rare unusual or intriguing object,” Edge said. “We want Curio 409 to be … a place that people discover when they come to downtown Brownsville when they’re looking for a way to spend an afternoon, something special to do. We want it to be that rare, unusual or intriguing gift that they find in downtown Brownsville.”
