News & Stories

A Few Minutes with Sterling Tran

John Freeman
Sterling Tran, Founder, City Heights Coffee House
Sterling Tran, Founder, City Heights Coffee House

For Sterling Tran, owning and operating City Heights Coffee House (CHCH) brings her a daily sense of fulfillment, one that serves to reinforce her Christian faith.

In addition to serving a wide assortment of gourmet coffees and teas, CHCH is devoted to providing a safe haven for at-risk youth, including refugees. Now with five full- and-part-time employees, plans are to grow in coming months with increased hours of operation.

The inviting, brightly-colored coffee house also hosts a series of community gatherings, mixers and social events, including weekly discussion groups that welcome the homeless.

Before CHCH relocated to University Avenue earlier this year, LISC San Diego provided a grant to clean up an alleyway next to its previous locale, which has created an on-going relationship of support and direction.

For Sterling Tran, owning and operating City Heights Coffee House (CHCH) brings her a daily sense of fulfillment, one that serves to reinforce her Christian faith.

In addition to serving a multi-cultural assortment of specialty coffees and teas, CHCH is devoted to providing a safe haven for at-risk youth, including refugees. Now with five full- and-part-time employees, plans are to grow in coming months with increased hours of operation.

The inviting, brightly-colored coffee house also hosts a series of community gatherings, mixers and social events, including weekly discussion groups that welcome the homeless.

Before CHCH relocated to University Avenue in 2018, LISC San Diego provided a grant to clean up an alleyway next to its previous outdoor café, which has created an on-going relationship of support and direction.

"I truly believe that love is practical as well as spiritual and that’s the driving force of our lives."
— Sterling Tran

What’s been the overall response to your company?
I’m pretty sure the community feels positive because things have been going really well lately and many community members have been coming to our shop. Along the way, we’ve learned that it takes time to build trusting relationships. While it’s taken a while to get to where we are now, I wouldn’t change it at all. 

Why is that?
Because the process has allowed us to meet a lot more people and build a stronger bond based on trust, instead of just setting up a storefront and not first getting to know the people and what they really want for their neighborhood.

What are the most important life skills you pass along?
Things like learning basic social skills and how to network, how to manage personal finances, how to apply for an apartment, how to get a driver’s license. How to deal with conflict in a healthy manner, how to emphasize the importance of wellness and personal well-being, even on a limited budget.

How does working in your coffee house help pass along those lessons?
We try to achieve our common goal of serving our customers based on forming healthy relationships and creating a family-like environment. We know that the population we employ and some of our customers can be completely new to America, can come from abusive households, or even have no family at all, so we try to make this a welcome and healthy haven. 

What is it about your own life that brought you here?
It’s been largely impacted by faith and my belief that every human being has worth and that our job as humans is to love our neighbors. As we got to know more of our neighbors, they told us that what City Heights needed most was practical things – a gathering space and more jobs. I truly believe that love is practical as well as spiritual and that’s the driving force of our lives.

Sterling Tran
City Heights Coffee House
4465 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105
858-609-9648