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Connor Rubin knew he’d found his diner as soon as he saw The Centerville Cafe.
The Olympia-based director had traveled up and down Interstate 5 in search of a restaurant that captured the gritty tone and look of his self-written, blue-collar crime drama, “Drowned Horses.”
“We, I think, went to almost every diner in like a 40-mile radius of Portland, all over.” Rubin said. “Same thing with the Olympia area. We just looked at so many different diners, trying to find this very specific aesthetic and look and feel.”
Then, while location scouting in Centralia, Rubin and his team stepped into The Centerville Cafe on Tower Avenue.
“And we're just like, ‘This is absolutely perfect,’” Rubin said. “There's no way we can do it any other place.’”
Rubin talked with Judy O’Brien, mother of co-owner Michelle Little. O’Brien is a fixture of the restaurant, known for her “famous” cinnamon rolls, a menu favorite, and welcoming demeanor.
“I’m the personality,” O’Brien said with a laugh.
O’Brien listened to Rubin’s pitch and, after talking with Little, agreed to open up the cafe for Rubin’s production. Rubin and his crew filmed at the restaurant on Oct. 9, turning the retro diner and its vintage counter into a moody, smoke-filled setting for his neo-noir.
“Drowned Horses” is set in Black Pines, a fictional Pacific Northwest town overtaken by organized crime. The film, according to Rubin, tells the story of a “weary mob enforcer” who becomes the reluctant mentor to a “headstrong young drifter.”
As is noir tradition, the duo’s journey takes them deep into the “filthy underbelly of the town.”
Rubin has long wanted to incorporate Centralia into a film project since moving from Maryland to the Pacific Northwest in 2021. The director was immediately drawn to the city, which he said has an “isolated, industrial feel” and almost seems “stuck in time.”
“It felt like one of the older places here regionally, and so the architecture and the way things are laid out just feel really, really unique that way, and kind of have that, again, just worn-in, lived-in feel to it,” Rubin said.
As he grew his video production business, Mirror Room Media, across the Olympia area, Rubin began building a community of artists that stretched from Seattle to Portland.
Ashton McKenzie and Gabe Mouer are Centralia-based filmmakers and producers of “Drowned Horses.” McKenzie works as a photographer and videographer for corporate clients as well as local organizations such as Discover Lewis County.
Rubin, too, has worked with local Centralia businesses, including The Refined Man barbershop.
McKenzie said she first met Rubin when she sold him a camera lens. At the time, McKenzie and Mouer were preparing to produce their own feature-length film.
The group met for coffee and became friends.
“He worked on our project down in Texas, and now we're working with him on his project,” McKenzie said.
Mouer, also a musician, said producing a project like “Drowned Horses” allows him and McKenzie to meet more people within the area’s film community.
According to McKenzie, most of the “Drowned Horses” crew lives in Portland, which is where the majority of filming takes place.
Rubin plans to return to Centralia — and The Centerville Cafe — once he’s completed his “proof of concept” for “Drowned Horses.” Rubin said he’s already written the feature-length script.
“And we would (film) not only at The Centerville Cafe, but probably take over bits of the street and just find a way to work with the city to use more of the city,” Rubin said.
Until then, the project will exist as a short film meant to secure further funding.
Rubin described collaboration with businesses like The Centerville Cafe as one of the most important aspects of indie filmmaking, especially when working with limited budgets. Rubin’s own production for “Drowned Horses” was financed through a crowdfunding campaign.
“You're very much so going into these businesses with your heart on your sleeve and telling your whole story: ‘I'm an indie filmmaker. I love your space. I love everything that you do. And is this even possible? Is this even something that you're open to?’” Rubin said.
Sometimes, you get lucky, Rubin said, and find your “perfect place.”
O’Brien said customers were excited when the film crew showed up to the restaurant, adding that one table didn’t want to leave.
“It's a positive thing,” O’Brien said. “I think anything that happens out on this street on Tower that is visible — you got a truck out there, you got cameras out there. Anything like that is good for downtown. Anything that makes people go, ‘What's going on?’ They want to know. I imagine we'll have many people come in tomorrow and say, ‘What was that all about?’”
Rubin said O’Brien deserves “all of the praise” for allowing his team to film at the cafe.
“This thing would not have been able to have been brought to life the way it's going to be if it wasn't for her,” Rubin said.
And though its throwback interior makes for an ideal noir period piece, The Centerville Cafe’s ambiance during business hours is far from dark and seedy.
O’Brien described the cafe as a destination for people travelling from Seattle to Portland. Instead of settling for a spot right off the interstate, they drive over to Tower Avenue.
“The atmosphere inside the building while we're working is you come home to visit your long lost cousin you haven't seen in a while,” O’Brien said. “That you're going somewhere where people are happy to see you, really happy to see you.”
O’Brien said the restaurant enjoys many “long-distance customers,” including some that come from Aberdeen in Grays Harbor County.
“We have people that came in here with their grandparents,” O’Brien said. “They're now parents, and they'll bring their kids and talk about it. So it's fun.”
O’Brien credits the relationships customers have with the wait staff, some of whom preceded Michelle and Lisa Little’s purchase of the restaurant. The Littles reopened the cafe in 2023, taking over from Marion Manzer and Morris Gall.
Manzer and Gall purchased what was then known as the Jersey Diner in 2013. They renamed the restaurant The Centerville Cafe, in honor of Centralia’s original name.
The site has been home to local businesses for over 120 years.
That sense of nostalgia extends beyond the cafe’s doors. Like Rubin, O’Brien said downtown Centralia gives visitors a feeling like they’re “stepping back” in time.
“I get so many hugs here,” O’Brien said. “They want to be hugged. They want a hug because they feel like they're at home.”
The Centerville Cafe is located at 111 N. Tower Ave, Centralia. To learn more about “Drowned Horses,” visit https://seedandspark.com/fund/drowned-horses.
