Sequim Coffee on Cedar Street and at the Fifth Avenue Medical Campus

Thomas Garner

Oct 7

11 min read

Updated: Oct 20

The modern Sequim Civic Center and city hall plaza on a sunny day in Sequim Washington

Photo: SounderBruce, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rainshadow Cafe sits at 157 W Cedar Street in downtown Sequim, Washington, and posts hours of Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Across Cedar Street is the Sequim Civic Center at 152 W Cedar Street, home to City Hall, the police station and, on Saturdays from May into October, the Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market. North of downtown, a second room called Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue serves the Olympic Medical Center campus, a room the Sequim Gazette covered when it opened in June 2023.

I am Thomas Garner, and I cofounded Hillcane to help independent coffee shops get found by the people already walking past them. Other Hillcane posts map the north Olympic pair of Sequim and Port Angeles, look at what a search for coffee in Sequim shows, and explain why drive thru and sit down coffee are different searches on the peninsula. This one stays in Sequim and looks at two coffee corners that serve very different crowds: a downtown street with a civic plaza, and a medical campus a short way north.

Sequim in the Rain Shadow

Sequim is a city of 8,130 people in the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey five year estimates, and it is not Port Angeles, which Hillcane's posts always count separately. It sits in the Olympic rain shadow. The Sequim Lavender Festival site says that while Seattle averages 152 rainy days, Sequim gets just 16 inches of annual rain, less than Los Angeles.

That dry, sunny valley shaped the town's history. The Sequim Irrigation Festival's own site explains that the festival celebrates the irrigation ditches that brought water from the Dungeness River to the parched prairie. It says the first headgate on the river was lifted on May 1, 1895, that the first celebration took place on May 1, 1896, and that the tradition became the oldest continuing festival in Washington state. The 2026 festival ran May 1 through 10.

A cafe called Rainshadow in a town known for its rain shadow carries a name that fits the place, and it is an easy name to remember for visitors who have just read about Sequim's sunny weather.

Rainshadow Cafe at 157 W Cedar Street

Rainshadow Cafe lists its address as 157 W. Cedar Street, Sequim, WA 98382, with a phone number of (360) 797 1654. It describes itself as located in downtown Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula, offering seasonal breakfasts, salads and sandwiches made in house from scratch. It adds that all its breakfast and lunch options are available all day.

Its posted hours are Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. That seven day schedule, with a 5 p.m. close six days a week, gives it a role in the afternoon as well as the morning.

The cafe's own words set the tone. It calls itself more than just a coffee shop and says, we are all about the craft. It describes a room where most days the cafe is bustling, where cyclists, business professionals and warm locals chat, read, eat and sip in an open and inviting atmosphere that is both family and business friendly. It also claims that its carrot cake is the best on the Peninsula, and that its salad dressings and sauces are made in house.

Evenings, Beer and Events on Cedar Street

Rainshadow Cafe is not only a daytime stop. Its story page lists evening events such as Open Mic Night, Sip and Paint and the First Friday Art Walk, along with other special music events, which it says make the cafe not just a day time hub. Local craft beers are on tap any time of day, it says, along with local wines, ciders and kombucha.

The page also says the space can be rented for a special event or party and accommodates up to 50 people, with catering available. The Sequim Gazette's January 21, 2026 profile by Kathy Cruz adds more to that list, describing sip and paint nights, First Friday events, open mic performances, sourdough bread classes, book readings and art shows, and it says the business has donated countless gift certificates to local fundraisers, schools and events.

The same profile carries a line quoted about the cafe that sums up the downtown room well: the Cheers of coffee in Sequim, a place where everyone knows your name and feels welcome. The Gazette describes the Cedar Street menu as breakfast and lunch, including avocado toast, bagels, paninis, salads, flatbreads and soups, as well as pastries and cakes.

The Civic Center and the Saturday Market Across the Street

Cedar Street is Sequim's civic block. The City of Sequim lists the Sequim Civic Center at 152 W Cedar Street, describing it as City Hall and Police Station, with front desk hours of Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. That is directly across the street from the cafe's 157 W Cedar address.

On Saturdays in season, the same address becomes a market. The Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market says its 2026 season runs Saturdays from May 2 through October 31, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 152 W Cedar Street. It describes itself as known for an eclectic display of over 50 local vendors, a live music series and a full calendar of events.

Put those two facts together and Cedar Street has a clear rhythm. On weekdays, residents come downtown for city business and meetings. On Saturdays from May to the end of October, the plaza fills with vendors and music. A cafe with a 7:30 a.m. Saturday opening across the street sits right in the path of both.

Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue, Inside the Medical Building

The second room serves a very different crowd. On June 14, 2023, the Sequim Gazette published a story by Michael Dashiell headlined Rainshadow Cafe expands to North Fifth Avenue. It placed the new room at 840 N. Sequim Ave., inside Olympic Medical Center's Medical Service Building, and said it opened after a soft opening a week ahead of a planned June 1 opening.

The Gazette described a half dozen tables for cafe style seating and a chalkboard detailing the menu. It listed breakfast items such as a breakfast burrito, a bacon or veggie frittata and an egg sandwich, plus bagels, and lunch items including a chicken pesto panini, a tuna melt and a turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich, along with wraps. Drinks included espresso, cappuccino, cold brew and chai lattes.

The story said the menu was designed to be tasty, healthy and affordable for hospital staff, with plenty of prepackaged to go options for Olympic Medical Center staff and anyone walking in off the street. It reported hours of 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and a phone number of 360 582 4175.

How the Gazette Describes the Fifth Avenue Room Today

The Gazette's January 21, 2026 profile lists Rainshadow on 5th Avenue in the Olympic Medical Center Medical Building, giving its address as 844 N. Fifth Ave. The 2023 story gave the building address as 840 N. Sequim Ave. Both stories describe the Olympic Medical Center building on the north side of town, so a visitor looking for the room should head for that building.

The 2026 profile says the Fifth Avenue location serves the same menu as the Cedar Street cafe to patients, staff and visitors alike. That is a useful detail for anyone with an appointment on the campus. A person waiting on a relative, a nurse between shifts and a visitor who wandered in off the street can all get the same avocado toast or panini they would find downtown.

The weekday schedule reported in 2023 also fits the setting. The 2023 story framed the menu around hospital staff, and a Monday to Friday schedule follows the working week of the people it was built for.

Two Corners, Two Kinds of Visit

The contrast between these two locations is the reason they belong in one post. Cedar Street is a destination. People go downtown to shop, attend a meeting at City Hall, browse the Saturday market or catch an evening event, and the cafe is part of that outing. The Fifth Avenue location is a convenience. People are on the medical campus for a reason that has nothing to do with coffee, and a good cup nearby makes the visit easier.

That difference shows up in the hours. The downtown cafe posts seven days, including a Sunday schedule of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The medical building room was reported as a weekday stop from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Neither pattern is better. Each one follows the traffic of its own block.

For a visitor, the practical advice is simple. On a weekend, head for Cedar Street. On a weekday with an appointment on the north side of town, the medical building room is already on the way.

Around the Rest of Sequim

Sequim's other coffee corners sit along Washington Street, the city's main east to west road. The Visit Sunny Sequim directory, run through the city's tourism site, lists coffee and tea shops across town, and its entries include stops on W. Washington Street downtown and farther east. The Sequim Visitor Information Center, listed on the same site, is at 1192 E Washington Street.

The town's biggest summer weekend is the Sequim Lavender Festival. Its site says the 30th festival ran July 17 through 19, 2026, with two stages and more than 200 artisan vendors, and that the valley has more than 20 lavender farms and attractions, many open May through September. The same site notes that Olympic National Park is about 30 minutes away.

Those events bring visitors into downtown Sequim in waves, and Cedar Street runs close to Washington Street through the downtown blocks. For a visitor walking between the Civic Center plaza, the Saturday market and the shops on Washington, a coffee on Cedar is the natural pause.

What a Two Room Cafe Page Should Say

When a cafe has two locations, the most helpful thing it can do is give each location its own clear line: the address, the building or landmark, the days and the hours. Cedar Street's landmark is the Civic Center and the Saturday market across the street. Fifth Avenue's landmark is the Olympic Medical Center building.

The Gazette has told the story of these two locations twice, in June 2023 and January 2026, with an address, a building and a menu each time. Any Sequim cafe with more than one location can follow the same pattern: one short section per address, each with its own hours and a sentence about who usually walks in.

If you run a coffee shop in Sequim or anywhere on the peninsula and want each of your addresses to read as clearly as these two corners, that is the place to start.

Guides for coffee shop owners

Go deeper on the fixes behind this city study:

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Rainshadow Cafe in Sequim?

Rainshadow Cafe is at 157 W. Cedar Street, Sequim, WA 98382, in downtown Sequim, with a phone number of (360) 797 1654. It sits across Cedar Street from the Sequim Civic Center at 152 W Cedar Street, which holds City Hall and the police station and hosts the Saturday farmers market in season. The cafe describes itself as more than just a coffee shop, with seasonal breakfasts, salads and sandwiches made in house.

What hours does Rainshadow Cafe post?

Rainshadow Cafe posts hours of Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at its 157 W Cedar Street room as of September 27, 2026. It says all of its breakfast and lunch options are available all day. That seven day schedule overlaps with the Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market, which runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. across the street.

What is Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue?

Rainshadow on Fifth Avenue is a second room inside the Olympic Medical Center Medical Service Building on Sequim's north side. The Sequim Gazette covered its opening on June 14, 2023, giving the address as 840 N. Sequim Ave., and a January 21, 2026 Gazette profile lists it at 844 N. Fifth Ave. in the OMC Medical Building. The 2026 profile says it serves the same menu as the downtown cafe.

What hours did the Gazette report for the Fifth Avenue location?

The Sequim Gazette's June 14, 2023 story by Michael Dashiell reported hours of 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with a phone number of 360 582 4175. The story described a half dozen tables for cafe style seating and a chalkboard menu, and said the menu was built to be tasty, healthy and affordable for hospital staff and anyone walking in off the street.

What food does the Fifth Avenue location serve?

The 2023 Gazette story listed breakfast burritos, a bacon or veggie frittata, egg sandwiches and bagels, plus lunch items such as a chicken pesto panini, a tuna melt and a turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich, and wraps. Drinks included espresso, cappuccino, cold brew and chai lattes. The January 2026 Gazette profile says the room now serves the same menu as the Cedar Street cafe to patients, staff and visitors.

What events happen at the Cedar Street cafe?

Rainshadow Cafe lists Open Mic Night, Sip and Paint and the First Friday Art Walk among its evening events, and it says local craft beers are on tap any time of day, with local wines, ciders and kombucha. Its space can be rented for parties of up to 50 people. The Gazette's January 2026 profile also mentions sourdough bread classes, book readings and art shows held there.

When is the Sequim farmers market on Cedar Street?

The Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market says its 2026 season runs Saturdays from May 2 through October 31, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 152 W Cedar Street, the Sequim Civic Center. It describes an eclectic display of over 50 local vendors, a live music series and a full calendar of events. Rainshadow Cafe at 157 W Cedar Street sits directly across the street and opens at 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays.

Why is Sequim called the rain shadow town?

Sequim sits in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. The Sequim Lavender Festival site says that while Seattle averages 152 rainy days, Sequim gets just 16 inches of annual rain, less than Los Angeles. That dry valley once needed irrigation, and the Sequim Irrigation Festival says the first headgate on the Dungeness River was lifted on May 1, 1895, with the first celebration held a year later.

What is the Sequim Irrigation Festival?

The Sequim Irrigation Festival celebrates the ditches that brought water from the Dungeness River to Sequim's dry prairie. Its own site says the first headgate was lifted May 1, 1895, the first celebration took place May 1, 1896, and the tradition became the oldest continuing festival in Washington state. The 2026 festival ran May 1 through 10, bringing crowds downtown near Cedar Street and Washington Street.

Is Sequim counted together with Port Angeles in Hillcane's posts?

No. Sequim has 8,130 residents and Port Angeles has 20,087 in the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey five year estimates, and Hillcane's posts never add the two together. Sequim's coffee sits along Washington Street and Cedar Street downtown and near the Olympic Medical Center building to the north. Port Angeles has its own post on 8th Street, and Port Townsend is treated as a separate city.

Work with Hillcane

Sequim's Cedar Street cafe sits across from City Hall and the Saturday market, while its Fifth Avenue room serves the Olympic Medical Center campus. Two corners, two crowds, one rain shadow town.

If you run a coffee shop in Sequim with more than one address and want each room's street, landmark and hours to read clearly, reach Hillcane at hillcane.co/contact or call (256) 384-2449.