Hidden Gem brings the World to Tigard, one event at a time

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We’re just going to say it: Tigard’s best-kept secret is a gorgeous little oasis of a venue that brings arts from around the world into the heart of the still-developing Tigard Triangle.

Welcome to the U&I Event Center, where world culture is center stage and social connection is paramount. From the café style front and back patios tucked among sculptures and gardens to the intimate living room concert space, everything about this place feels good.

For owner Marzie Salarie, it’s a vision that began during her tech career. She dreamed of opening a little coffee shop café where people could sip, linger, and talk.

“Originally, I wanted to name the place “Patogh.” Patogh means ’a hang out place.’ They use it in Farsi, they use it in Turkish, in multiple countries,” she said. “That’s my desire. To create a hang-out place for people to come and get comfortable and talk.”

She transformed the single-story home at 11905 SW 69th Ave., where she raised her family, into a serene, 2,200-square-foot cultural events center with a second floor, high-sloping ceilings, art, and spacious yet intimate gathering places centered around an open kitchen. 

And, gathering is what it’s all about. 

Warm and friendly, Salarie is quick with conversation. 

On Friday afternoons, she opens to the public for a 4:30-7:30 beer and wine happy hour that feels like hanging out at a friend’s place.  

Her passion, one of them anyway, is bringing people and cultures together. Her events draw from traditions around the globe, putting diverse acts on an intimate stage, but the venue is also the setting for workshops, retreats, and weddings. 

“We have poetry, we have soulful dance – Sufis,” she said. “My highlights are the music – Flamenco, Aztec, Kurdish, Turkish – a lot of Middle Eastern because that’s my connection.”

Salarie, who moved to Corvallis from Iran for college at 20, is compelled to create a greater understanding of varied cultures.

“As a first-generation immigrant our responsibilities, one of the major responsibilities we have, in the environment we live in is driving that awareness of who we are. Until you meet someone from (another) culture, it doesn’t resonate completely. (Knowing people from other places) changes our views toward the culture, whether it’s Turkish or Kurdish or Middle Eastern.” she said. “I’m Iranian American. Any time I meet with a non-Iranian, and we talk about poetry, and we talk Rumi or talk about Hafiz, all of a sudden, the doors open. At the end of the day, we are all human beings.”

She’s partnered with classical guitarist and teacher Peter Zisa to host a series of intimate living room concerts designed to bridge cultures. Other concerts, such as an upcoming evening in August featuring a trio of musicians from Palestine, Israel, and Iran, happen at locations with greater capacities.

On a recent Friday evening Zisa and pianist Dan Gaynor accompanied legendary Portland singer Shirley Nanette in an intimate house concert where “everyone has a front-row seat,” Salarie said.

Capacity for that room is 35.

Salarie, semi-retired from Intel, continues to work part-time in marketing at an upstairs office. Warm and engaging, Salarie said opening an event space was the natural evolution of gatherings she frequently hosted for friends. 

“All along, my dream has been the social gathering, she said. “I’ve worked for high-tech corporate America for 36 years, and I said it’s time to pay back and do things with the community, for the community.”

Initially, Salarie envisioned U&I as a coffee shop café but has pivoted — at least temporarily — to an events-based platform filled with a combination of the concerts she and Zisa produce and a menagerie of performances and workshops where “I just provide the platform. I turn on the lights, make tea, prepare the space. You come and shine.”

On tap this summer, U&I has an ongoing storytelling workshop, a classical guitarist, and the weekly happy hours.

For a full events calendar and information on booking the space for private events, visit uicafe.net.

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