Happy National Coffee Day, #TeamAAGC! Today we wanted to feature some of our favorite coffee shops, starting with Kim’s favorite place, Corridor Flow.

Corridor Flow is a Filipino family-owned coffee shop in Lomita, CA. Christine (Tin) and Nori (Nor) created this space to be an extension of their living room, open to whoever needs a place to belong.

After years of working with more traditional backgrounds in both engineering and nursing, working in other local coffee shops, and creating and needing more time for raising a family, the idea of opening a coffee shop was just a “maybe someday.” 

See excerpts from interview below.

*Note, the first part was just with Christine and I (Kim), Nori joined us a little bit later!

 

Can you give a brief introduction of yourselves and your backgrounds, where you grew up, and your inspiration on why you wanted to open up the space?

CHRISTINE: I was actually born in the Philippines; both Nor and I, we obviously didn’t know each other as a kid. We came here when I was almost 7, and he was like 5. So very similar stories, backgrounds, and families. His story is a little bit different, he came with aunts instead of his parents, and then I came with my parents. My parents came here before I did. There’s 4 of us, so my brother and I were born in the Philippines and then my other siblings (sister and brother) were born here. My brother and I were only a year apart, and we kinda stayed with family in the Philippines while my parents migrated here. My brother and I were with family for like a year, and then they finally brought us back here with them.

We actually grew up in LA, so my brother and my mom and dad and I, were in historic Filipinotown–I didn’t even know that was what it was, until we all moved out. But we lived there until I was like in elementary school, and then came out here pretty much for middle school. We lived in Carson which is really close to here.

I used to work as an engineer, I was working 10-years professionally as a civil structural engineer. I got sent to Northern California to work for a company for a year, and then I went to Detroit, Michigan for another whole year… But we have family here, so we knew we wanted to stay around here.

KIM: Did you always plan to be an engineer, like I would love to just pick your brain about like, your school, and like how did you go from engineer to coffee shop owner/to where you are now and having a family?

CHRISTINE: No, like I.. basically became an engineer not knowing necessarily what engineering was, but I was, I guess your typical Asian like, just really enjoyed math and science. Like I started in engineering club in high school and it was just like me trying to learn something that was… a little bit fun, but like you know, all the stuff that they teach you in school to apply it, so I loved applying what I learned in school. 

I went into architectural engineering as my major, because I wanted to learn about buildings and designing. Then I got into the engineering side of architecture which ended up becoming more of a structural engineering path, most structural engineers come from civil backgrounds. But the school that I went to, which is on the central coast of California, it's rare that we come from architectural backgrounds. So I was kinda in it not knowing until my third-year, I was like “oh I really enjoy this” and I really like where I’m gonna go with this. I went into engineering and then later found sustainability, so sustainability is also a part of architecture. I minored in that and so with working I kind of wanted to combine the two, and so I found a job right away, not really thinking of what I was gonna end up doing, but I ended up working for a refinery.

I got the job pretty much right after I graduated, because my parents were like “You need a job before you graduate,” and I was like fine, I’ll look for one but I’m not gonna work right away, because I wanted to take a break. So I got the job, but I told them that I wouldn’t be able to start until September, and I went and traveled. I went to Brazil with my roommate and taught English and it was just a fun trip.

For the summer and also I did travel before graduating, I ended up doing a study abroad program in New Zealand. And that was also very eye-opening for me because I did like my sustainability minor party there. Then I ended up finding this job that was just… very not what I was thinking, but it was a good paying job, so it was kind of hard to say no to it in the beginning. But five years into it, I was like “man, this is not where I want to be.” And I was sitting a lot in cubicles, um, and I was lucky that I came into the year that I did work, which was around a surge of new engineers that got hired at the same time because it was right after a hiring freeze.

I worked with a lot of people that were my age, so we were a very close knit group that kept each other going. And a lot of us got sent out on assignments, which is like where you get sent out for a year to different places and you’re on site. 

And when I came back, everybody was just on notice to get furloughed and on notice every month, not knowing if we would have a job. And so I got offered another job by this company that did construction tools and drills. There's a lot of things that engineers use that are proprietary and speciality, so I was like “okay I’ll do that,” and it was a work from home job. It was random but the sales engineer that came into our office that came to present for that company was like “would you guys know anyone that would be interested in that job,” and so I applied and I got it. It was a strictly remote job and I worked from home.

KIM: Did you like it?

CHRISTINE: Yeah, this was my first time working out of the office so I was like “yeah, this is nice,” and they gave me a car and ended up moving to the beach, and I was working from home and then traveled for clients too so I ended up working remotely with clients and do presentations and scheduled calls with people.

In a way, I was actually more independent in my own time and projects. My boss was in Oklahoma, so he would come every now and then to check in on me, but because of that, I was looking for a cafe every single day to work at, all around this area. And a friend of mine, who’s also a graphic designer, her and I would work and try and find a place together to work every day, whenever we can. And so I realized then, there was nothing! That was nice or good or just community-like? The closest thing, and I don’t know if you’ve been out to Redondo Beach, but there’s a coffee shop in Riviera called Coffee Cartel.

KIM: Yes! I’ve been there once.

CHRISTINE: Yeah, so that was really close to where we lived so I went there all the time. There was nothing really good [to eat], it was just very minimal. So that was kind of kept in the back of my head and had that as my “maybe someday.” 

KIM: And when was that, like what year?

CHRISTINE: That was in 2011. So it’s been awhile. Then I ended up having our first son around that time, oh and by the way my husband, he’s a nurse. He’s like… well we switched like I was the engineer and he’s the nurse, so it’s like the other way around, haha. He’s just also run into that job, but he was working at night as a graveyard shift nurse. 

So when we had our first kid, I decided that I couldn’t work the job anymore because of all the travel, like they were gonna start sending me to Hawaii, which is awesome but I just couldn’t leave that much. That’s when I told my boss that I couldn’t stick around, and as soon as my son turned 9 months. I wanted to work and be a stay at home mom, but my old job called me back and was like “hey, are you looking for a part-time job?” And so I considered, and by the time he turned one-years old I was like okay, I kind of okay to do half-time from the office, which wasn’t too far. When I… oh sorry this is getting long.

KIM: No, you’re fine!

CHRISTINE: But one of the things that was happening was that they kept pushing me to work full-time, or not that they were pushing me but my job demand.. just with engineering it’s just so project-based and deadlines. It was very apparent that I was working full-time already and then I was like no, this is kind of harder to do. 

But I got a LinkedIn message to work at Disney. They were telling me that this position needed to be filled, so I went in and interviewed. I ended up getting that job, so I moved and was working at Disney in the Anaheim office for their engineering team. 

"I didn’t realize what I learned there was what I needed to open a coffee shop."

 

*Nori joins after this time.

CHRISTINE: I’m gonna try and fast-forward. But the whole time I was working at Disney, I was in a contract position. I was also not sure, because we already started talking about this coffee shop when I was not happy at the other job. We were also kind of thinking if it was possible for me to stop working, and just be home with the kids. Because I ended up having our second one in between Disney and the other job, so when I was at Disney I did a lot of different things. 

They showed me how to do buildings and we did a lot of renovations for old structures in Disneyland, so I learned a lot of the facility work to be able to work within a building. I’m saying that because I didn’t realize what I learned there was what I needed to open a coffee shop.

KIM: Oh!

NORI: Are you talking about/combining the first question and the last question?

KIM: Yeah, probably around both!

CHRISTINE: Kind of like how we got here. I think it was a time where I didn’t realize that I would take what I learned from Disney, but it was very helpful because I got all the training with hospitality and what they present to guests versus what’s on the backend. 

NORI: The whole experience.

CHRISTINE: Exactly!

KIM: No, I mean that’s really cool that you took all of that experience to open your own space that was really curated for you and what you were looking for, the times you were looking for a coffee shop. Like something you needed but wasn’t really around. 

CHRISTINE: Yeah, it all came together. That’s kind of what it felt like.

 

via @corridor_flow on Instagram

 

At AAGC, we love amplifying AAPI-owned businesses and fostering our community–how has opening up Corridor Flow expanded you to these communities?

CHRISTINE: The beginning of the pandemic… we opened up six months later and we had to shut for three months, and then we came back and…. all the adjustments we went through and all the things that were happening just kept us on our toes like all the time. Everything was changing like the indoor/outdoor, just like trying to keep our staff afloat and just healthy.

NORI: I would add to just that time like, the community really had our back. Um, we had to really think creatively, and that’s when we started with half-gallons [of coffee] and then whole gallons. But we were just getting orders upon orders… and it was pretty cool too because like, people didn’t wanna come out, so it was convenient to have 6-8 servings in one gallon. So now we kept it! And we still get the orders, we still get orders.

CHRISTINE: We’ll do catering with them.

NORI: But the community just really wanted us to continue to stay open.

CHRISTINE: It’s kind of ongoing just more or less because I feel like there was a need for the community to come back together, especially the pandemic. We obviously opened the shop before the pandemic, so then we didn’t know that this would be the need but we originally did have the space in mind to be a community-based space.

Like when we were looking for a space, we knew coffee shops were not that big, like most coffee shops are half the size of ours. We were looking for similar sizes but we were like “well, we can’t do what we want to do in this space,” and we kind of looked all over and Lomita was the one city (and some of the South Bay cities) but um, we found one that was like 6,000 sq. ft. and another that was 1,500 sq. ft, and just different ranges. So when we found this one, we were like “oh that’s a good range!” but it didn’t feel like it was a big space because we were already looking at other spaces.

And so, this used to be like an old auto shop. Then there was nothing here, it was pretty much a blank slate. So redid the entire plumbing and the bathrooms, everything was just brand new. We did all the planning and everything came together in the space that we wanted to create in the back and a different space being open.

And our name can actually kind of tell you the story of why we created the space, so like “corridor” is the space… There was this book that we read and it was in the introduction where you “bring people together.” And that kind of like what happens in the hallways, but a “hallway” was not the right name… so we were like… *laughs*

NORI: Corridor sounded way cooler!

CHRISTINE: Yeah so we kind of mentioned it from that book and then okay, “corridor” was similar enough, and we wanted it to be “Corridor ____” but we just didn’t like to come through. And then the “flow” is like, well we talked to so many people about the vision and every time we talked to them, it just seemed like the “flow” and the conversion or like the feeling of being “in the zone.”

NORI: Just like the things that you’re passionate about, connecting with people, and that flow is just the other part of that.

 

Oftentimes, we see a pattern of Asian families wanting their children to have a more "traditional" career path. Did you ever face this struggle while pursuing your passions or navigating through life?

CHRISTINE: Yeah there was a lot of push back. I feel like that was something that we had to pull ourselves out of. Like when we started designing and planning the coffee shop, it was just Nor and I. We just basically kept it to ourselves because, well, we shared it with people but like they would just not be down. So, every time we shared it for a purpose but with certain people. And when we did, they encouraged us. But for the most part it was a lot of being very careful and knowing that this is not normal. 

And in the planning stage, it was very unknown, so we couldn't be sharing all the information because 1. it would discourage us if it doesn’t work out that way or the way that we wanted and 2., some people just didn’t understand. They didn’t know what the vision was like. And I think people just didn’t understand until we opened our doors. Until things actually started happening.

NORI: And even then, until they started seeing like “oh they started getting busy!” Because in the beginning we were still on bar and working and her parents would be like–

KIM: “So how’s that coffee shop going?”

NORI: Yeah! You know, so slowly they see it now. Her dad is even reposting it on Facebook, like okay, we’ve come a long way, haha.

KIM: I think it’s just a universal thing that like Filipinos or just Asian families collectively go through, haha.

NORI: For sure, for sure! And it’s funny to think until now, to understand their dynamics of how in Filipino heritage, and even for me, I was born in the Philippines but growing up around my cousins and being recognized… it’s just like understanding the cultural differences, when we were talking about our parents. I don’t know my parents too well but she does, and seeing the dynamics is so different, and it took sacrifice for them. So when they ask like “what kind of job is that?” because in the back of their mind there’s this whole narrative that they follow with you know, of sacrifice, get a good job, and make it, right? So nursing was a thing. 

And for us, it’s more like they paved that way and we're on top of it, and we’re paving a different way. They see that and we're talking about this service that we give because of our parents, but also understanding there’s an identity that we’re trying to, I guess, forge for ourselves, that is different from our parents.

So our parents were like, they couldn’t think about identity, you know what I mean? They were more like… survival.

KIM: Survival.

NORI: Yeah, so like even now, I’m trying to get to this stage you know, with my kids, not to have this entitlement that’s the next stage like “okay they’re so far removed from their sacrifice,” and then our generation of working and our kids are just gonna grow up and think: “oh this is our world.” No, like there’s still a sacrifice, and hopefully they see the coffee shop that is our sacrifice that their parents are doing, right to further, not just themselves but also like our culture and identity.

 

What are you guys’ core items on the menu that you would recommend to someone that’s never been in before?

NORI: The Ube latte, the Spanish latte, and the strawberry matcha for sure.

CHRISTINE: I actually really like the Golden Latte, that’s actually the one that people don’t really order and like not knowing what it is, but it’s one of the first specialty drinks that we introduced but I was using… it’s like a FIlipino mix that we literally get from the Philippines. 

People use it for health benefits. People would just drink that by itself with water, and that’s like a healthy-based tea. But when I was like testing it, like we were training, I would just use that as my flavor with the espresso, and it just worked so well that I was like “this is gonna be on our menu.” 

KIM: Yeah I’m definitely gonna try that next time.

CHRISTINE: Yeah, a lot of people don’t realize it’s actually really sweet because it has brown sugar. So that’s kind of my favorite.

NORI: Yeah so, turmeric, lemongrass, and brown sugar. And I think people also found out too, because when we have the Ube [latte], people were like “oh yeah, they’re Filipino.” *laughs* It’s like our little flag.

 

Are there any other Asian-owned businesses (local or not) that would like to mention or feature?

NORI: I was going to say the first that comes to mind is Marissa of Good Morning, Cactus (@goodmorningcactus) and Stephanie (Shop Studio Tian @shopstudiotian), and they’re both in-house. And then also Kansha Creamery (@kanshacreamery).

KIM: Oh yeah, I’ve been there once! But oh my gosh the ice cream you guys had for June! Literally in the top three ice creams I’ve ever had, the ube corn cookie ice cream. I was having ice cream at like 10am.

CHRISTINE + NORI: *laughs*

...

Thank you to Christine and Nori for taking the the time to speak with Kim at Asian American Girl Club. You can find them online at corridorflow.com, on Instagram @corridor_flow, or in person in Lomita, California.