How Jess & Pat’s Became a Home for Art and Music in Maginhawa

(SPOT.ph) Lola Amour, Sud, Over October, and Munimuni walk into a bar—except it isn't a bar. It's a small gig joint called Jess & Pat’s, where alcohol isn't part of the menu.

The self-proclaimed "indie, artsy cafe" is tucked in the second floor of a nondescript building along Maginhawa Street in Diliman, its fairy lights, floor seating, and art-filled walls inviting a steady stream of regulars. Jess & Pat’s feels so rooted in this neighborhood now that it’s easy to assume it has always belonged here. Yet the story didn’t begin on this side of town but in Marikina, with P70,000 and a dream college requirement.

In 2016, during their junior year at San Beda University, entrepreneurship students Kloyd Majam and Alexx Esponga were tasked to create a business plan as part of a class requirement. They came up with the idea of opening a small burger place on a rooftop along San Roque in Marikina where rent was cheap. Just a food business they felt they could realistically run.

They were only three months into their relationship when they opened a joint bank account to make it happen. They spent the summer working to raise that initial capital of P70,000, and before they knew it, they were launching Jess & Pat's.

Live music came later, and almost by accident. They invited a musician friend to perform on opening night; he recommended they make it a regular thing. The turnout surprised them. It wasn't a completely random pivot. Before they were business partners—and before they were even a couple—Kloyd and Alexx were friends who hung out in Cubao Expo, moving from one small gig venue to another. Neither of them played instruments, but they had always been comfortable in those rooms.

About a year or two in, though, they had to pause to raise more capital. The break forced them to reassess what the space was becoming. “Sabog pa siya sa Marikina,” Alexx tells SPOT.ph.

While they were figuring things out in Marikina, the scene in Maginhawa Street was already in full swing.

The small but busy Quezon City street was lined with themed cafes: dog cafes, cat cafes, chemist-themed milk tea shops serving drinks in beakers and flasks, color-themed cafes, and even Harry Potter-inspired spaces pouring Butterbeer. You didn’t need a big franchise name to draw a crowd—just a concept that stood out. So when a rental space opened up along Maginhawa, they took it.

“For us, it was a dream, in a way. Kung meron kang shop sa Maginhawa, you’ve made it,” Alexx says with a laugh. “It’s easier to capture the student market there.”

The space was perfect, too: it felt homey, with a veranda out front and just enough distance from the busiest stretch of restaurants to let music carry without competing with street noise. But the relocation came with higher stakes, too—they were no longer students who were doing this for a class. Rent jumped from less than P10,000 in Marikina to a figure that made it clear they were now in more premium Maginhawa. If they were going to last, they had to commit to this full-time.

“The game really changed when we moved to Maginhawa in 2018. That’s when we realized we want to do this and we want to make this the heart of what we do, which is to support the local art and music scene in Manila,” Alexx says. Taking cues from established gig venues like Route 196 in Katipunan and SaGuijo in Makati, Alexx and Kloyd set out to create their own.

Also read: Why Aren't There Big Chain Restaurants in Maginhawa?

From the beginning, one thing was clear to Kloyd and Alexx: If they were going to champion the local art and music scene, they needed to be intentional about what kind of space they were building—and who it was for.

To do that, they decided early on to remove alcohol from the menu.

The goal of introducing local art and music to a younger generation meant standing by a strict rule they’ve had since day one: anyone below 18 should be able to enter Jess & Pat’s without being turned away at the door. It was that simple—and not much of a sacrifice for them anyway. As Born-Again Christians, they see it as part of what they describe as missionary work, creating a space that is values-driven as much as it is safe and welcoming.

When asked whether they’ve ever considered removing that rule, especially given how much alcohol sales can boost revenue for music venues, they shut it down instantly.

“Magsara na lang kami,” Kloyd jokes. “Isa talaga ‘yun sa foundation ng Jess & Pat’s: to reach out to the younger generation. Happy rin kami na mas tanggap na ng indie scene na walang alcohol ‘yung venue namin.”

Unlike the usual gig culture in Manila that revolves around late bar hours, shows at Jess & Pat’s are scheduled to start and end early. Doors open at 6 p.m., giving people time to order food and drinks, browse the art stalls, and find a spot before the first set.

The indoor and outdoor areas are separated by a glass wall, so even those seated outside can see straight into the performance space. Floor seating fills up quickly, with listeners sitting cross-legged in front of the band, while others line the sides or stand along the back. Outside, guests take over the benches. Many arrive with barkadas, but some walk in alone and end up staying for the conversation. Friendships have formed, and even a few couples trace their beginnings to the space.

By the time 8 p.m. strikes and the music starts, the room is usually full. There are often two to three artists per night, a lineup curated by Alexx and Kloyd themselves. Especially notable about the venue is that the performers stand at floor level—there’s no stage, no special lighting, no massive sound equipment to block your view.

“It’s something we really hold on to—the intimate experience. When you’re at Jess & Pat’s, you feel like the artists belong to the community in such a way that they’re not hard to reach. There’s nothing separating you from them.”

This kind of connection is what keeps bringing artists back to the room. Over time, Hey June, Kiyo, Clara Benin, The Ridleys, Ian Quiruz, and fitterkarma became regular names on Jess & Pat’s lineup. They played to a room that was often the same crowd size each visit, even as their audiences grew outside.

Once or twice a month, they hold “Open Mic Nights” where aspiring musicians can participate. Anyone can sign up. It’s something they’ve brought with them since the early Marikina days. Amiel So is one artist that immediately comes to Alexx’s mind, having been a frequent performer in 2019 before now reaching nearly five million monthly listeners on Spotify. Still, Alexx refuses to claim any credit for his success. She makes it clear that whatever happens inside it belongs to the people who show up.

“We’re a really, really small chunk of everything that’s happening in the industry,” Alexx explains. “‘Yung kay Amiel, it’s just 2% of the hard work he’s done kasi for sure those artists are also busking from one place to another. We’re really just a space. Ultimately, sila talaga yun.”

That thinking even shows up in the name. If you’re wondering where Jess & Pat’s came from, the answer isn’t complicated. They just couldn’t think of anything else, so they combined their second names—Jessica and Patrick—and rolled with it. Not Alexx or Kloyd, which would’ve made it unmistakably about them.

Alexx explains, “Buti nalang ginawa namin ‘yun. Jess & Pat’s is just our names but it’s not really us. In a way, it represents the entire community, like anybody could be a Jess or Pat.”

The concept had always depended on people showing up. So when the pandemic hit, that disappeared almost overnight.

Gigs were put on hold indefinitely. The months of waiting had wiped out their savings to the point that they had to move into the Jess & Pat’s space itself. With Alexx living in Paranaque and Kloyd living in Marikina at the time, getting to Quezon City meant passing through multiple checkpoints.

“With all of the borders closed, it was impossible for us to navigate and operate the business," says Alexx. "So literally, we made it a home for more than six months." Pushing tables to the sides, they adjusted to the space in a way they never had before. They worked in the same area where audiences used to sit. Each month became a brainstorming session: what can we sell now to survive the next?

With the help of two staff members, they started selling coffee—an operation that has since closed—and flowers, which eventually evolved into Drafts Gift Shop, now thriving and gearing up for Valentine’s Day. They also shifted to online gigs over Zoom: artists performed for free and viewers donated what they could. Whatever came in went toward paying staff and supporting frontliners at a time of need. They were on the brink of giving up when, finally, the lockdown restrictions eased.

Slowly, the space filled up again—first in the veranda in the open air, until they made their way back inside. Regulars showed up, and then more. A close friend of theirs even got married at the venue. The rise of TikTok during this period also helped introduce Jess & Pat’s to a wider audience, drawing in a new crowd that might not have discovered the space otherwise.

It turns out Jess & Pat’s was only getting started.

Also read: The Urban Insider's Guide to Maginhawa, Quezon City

Ten years in, Jess & Pat’s isn’t expanding the way most businesses would. Sure, they’ve received offers from people interested in franchising the concept—bringing it to the South, even as far as Cebu—but expansion in that form has never appealed to them. Gig venues are difficult to maintain, and even more difficult to duplicate, given the nature of the work.

So instead, they tried something else: a music festival. It was the only feasible, natural expansion they could envision for themselves, though they had no idea how to mount it in the first place. It would be called “All the Good Things.”

It was ambitious from the start: eleven bands in one night, art merchants, food and drink stalls—everything you’d expect from a full-scale music festival, but mounted by a team used to running an intimate cafe. It wasn’t just about booking artists anymore. There were permits to secure, logistics to plan, vendors to coordinate, and a much larger crowd to manage, all while keeping it business as usual at Jess & Pat's.

“The scale did not scare me kasi nakita ko na hindi kami nag-iisa. That’s the heart of what we do—it’s the people, the community. They have our backs. If mga bands game sila, and mga tao nagsu-support sila, why not?” Alexx says. The final lineup read like a Jess & Pat’s roll call—The Ridleys, Kiyo, Lola Amour, Clara Benin, Over October, Sud, Toneejay, Sunkissed Lola, and Shirebound—all returning for the festival.

Still, they were realistic about the numbers. There was no guarantee of breaking even, so they went in prepared to take a loss if ticket sales didn’t pick up.

“For us, worth it naman ‘yung risk. The goal is to give back,” Kloyd says.

In the end, All the Good Things sold out all 2,600 tickets, drawing close to 3,000 people on UP grounds that night. For something they had braced to lose money on, the crowd made it clear they’d miscalculated.

“It was really surreal. It was a culmination of the 10 years that we’ve been doing this,” Alexx says. “It reminded us that the small things we do every weekend, meron rin pala siyang impact to people.”

A lot has changed since the Marikina days in 2016. Acts that once played regularly at Jess & Pat’s have gone on to build much bigger audiences. Some now command talent fees that the café can’t always afford. Even so, many of them still return from time to time, sometimes at a discounted rate, to pay homage to where it all began.

Outside the venue, life has shifted, too. Alexx and Kloyd are now three years married, with a one-year-old baby named Bear. The changes at home haven’t pulled them away from the work. If anything, a new addition to their family only strengthened their sense of purpose.

“Mas lalo kami na-inspire to be there for the next generation,” Alexx says.

After a sold-out music festival, the obvious question followed: Will it happen again next year? Kloyd says they're not locking anything in yet, weighing the logistics before committing to a yearly run. For now, the focus stays on Maginhawa.

“The artists will change, but hopefully, Jess & Pat’s will remain a home in every stage of your life. It’s just there to be a space that you can go to. We’re just here,” Alexx says, recalling a quote they used to put on their promotional materials: “In case you feel lost, you can always go back home.”

Jess & Pat’s is at 2/F 63 Maginhawa Street, Teachers' Village, Quezon City.