Cloud Cliff Bakery, Café and Artspace was founded in 1984. It began when Willem Malten took over the Better Bunz Bakery which had been founded by Pat Krug in the barrio of Santa Fe. In 1985 the bakery moved to a larger space closer to the center of the town, and opened up a small coffee house and a pizza counter. With that, Better Bunz became Cloud Cliff Bakery and Café.

As Willem recalls, “Suddenly there were a lot more people working there, up to 15 employees. Rent was cheap, the building was old and we had good and sometimes “wild” times together. We still use some of the equipment that we purchased at that time. We recycled and reconditioned it from anywhere we could.”

This phase ended with an eviction notice late in 1988, necessitating another move, to the present Cloud Cliff premises on 2nd Street. Willem and his crew took an 8000 ft warehouse and within three months relocated the old bakery and constructed a full restaurant complete with a beautiful old oak floor recycled from a local gymnasium. …more…