In both the music it presents and the young following it attracts, Terraza 7 reflects the diversity of this part of Queens. In Jackson Heights alone, more than 160 languages are spoken. The club hosts concerts almost every night of the week — typically Latin jazz and what’s referred to on its website as “immigrant folk” — and it frequently opens its doors for film screenings, poetry readings and scholarly discussions. Musicians and patrons say it reminds them of bohemian clubs of Lima or Bogotá. And the political overtones carry over as well.

“Terraza is not only a space where I’ve felt like I could be safe and learn about my culture, it’s also a hub for politics and social justice,” said Tania Mattos, 33, who was born in Bolivia and is a leader of Queens Neighborhoods United.

Ivan Contreras, 27, makes the trip from Bushwick, Brooklyn, to Terraza 7 every few weeks. “I’m Mexican myself,” he said, “but I come to see a lot of the Colombian bands.”

Mr. Castiblanco moved to Jackson Heights in 2000 from his native Colombia, where he had been a doctor working mostly with the urban poor. He began training to practice medicine in New York, but he stumbled into a different calling.

“Jackson Heights was very diverse,” he said. “But each community was self-isolated: Colombians, Ecuadoreans, Mexicans.” His main goal with the club, he said, was to bridge those divides.

In 2002, he founded Terraza 7 in a little plot just off busy Roosevelt Avenue. He rented the raw space cheaply and set about installing bathrooms, a bar and the unorthodox stage that hangs over the bar. It soon became a magnet in the neighborhood.