Main Street Renaissance, Part 1
Main Street Renaissance, Part 1
Discover Luminarium, Seed & Sew and Cozy Plum, three new establishments in downtown Sebastopol
If you haven’t been to downtown Sebastopol recently, there’s a renaissance going on on Main Street. Two new retail stores and a Pilates studio have filled the spaces left empty by the departures of People’s Music, Flourish and Boho Bungalow. And two new restaurants—Cozy Plum and Americana—are opening soon where Slice of Life and the Gypsy Café used to be.
Luminarium, which opened at the beginning of May, is an art gallery and retail store run by Serafina Palandech, the co-owner of Bubbles Boba and Tea and the new executive director of Sebastopol Center for the Arts. With its aqua and bubble gum pink walls and giant floating orb lights, it’s an intriguing space filled with art and gifts that Palandech says are “unlike anything else in Sebastopol.”
“There's this Korean phrase that translates roughly to ‘a small but certain happiness.’ I love that concept,” she said.
Explaining the store’s name, she said, “A Luminarium is an art piece that's full of light and color. So I wanted to create a space that was really beautiful, featured local artists and international artists, local makers and international makers—just a place for people to come in, feel good and have fun.”
Palandech, an artist with a degree in Women’s Studies, calls the store’s aesthetic “eclectic and unique. There's a mix of high and low price points. So there's kind of something for everyone. But in terms of its aesthetic, it's much more maximalist.”
It’s also incredibly fun and playful.
“We have a vintage photo booth—color and black and white photos—and we have a cotton candy robot that makes cotton candies that are either shaped like flowers or butterflies or what have you. And in the back we have a dry flower bar where you can make your own dry flower bouquet. We’ll have rotating artists and hopefully some classes in the near future—like a paint and sip kind of thing. Something where people can come in and have fun together.”
Join the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce at Luminarium Curated Goods on Saturday May 27 from 1-5 pm for Aperol Spritz cocktails, appetizers, live music, ribbon cutting and artist reception. Also free cotton candy!
Seed & Sew is the creation of longtime Sebastopol hair stylist Tara Jenkins, who purchased the stock from one of her salon clients, Flourish owner Brandi Chalker. Jenkins then added some beautifully curated goods of her own, including craft items for knitting, crocheting, embroidering, felting and macrame, plus playful gifts, and other fun things.
Jenkins said she was at a turning point in her life—her youngest child will start kindergarten in fall—and she was ready to return to working fulltime.
“I was working part time for quite awhile while I had my kids. So this is the moment where it's like, okay, full time again. But doing what? I was thinking about maybe going back to school, and then one of my clients who owned Flourish, said “I'm gonna sell my Sebastopol store.” And I was like, ‘Who could buy this?’ And then I thought, ‘Me!’ It just seemed like a really happy venture selling people plants. Also, I liked the idea of creating a store around my crafting interests.”
It took several months to work out the details, but they closed on the deal on May 1 and the store opened on May 19.
As anyone who visited Flourish knows, it’s a gorgeous space with arched windows and doors, exposed brick walls and high ceilings. What you may not know is that there’s a huge outdoors area out back that Jenkins plans to renovate. She hopes to use it as an outdoor plant area and outdoor classroom space.
Cozy Plum, the popular Santa Rosa vegan restaurant, will be opening its second location in Sebastopol any day now next to Whole Foods.
“Once we decided we wanted to bring Cozy Plum to multiple communities, Sebastopol was a logical choice,” said Charles White III, who opened Cozy Plum with his friend and partner Lisa LaDonne. “It’s close to Cozy Plum Santa Rosa, there was an absolutely perfect location available next to Whole Foods, and the cherry-on-top is that Sebastopol is our hometown, Lisa and I having each attended Analy.”
“A very nice side note - Lisa’s sister Tara has just opened an adorable home decor/plant shop, Seed n Sow, about a half block away on Main Street. So, you have two LeDonne sisters really staking a claim in downtown. Parents Gary and Patty are extremely proud.”
Cozy Plum offers spectacular salads and luscious vegan bowls, but it also specializes in vegan versions of classic American cuisine like burgers, sandwiches and more.
See their full menu here.
“The menus at each location will be the same with only a couple small exceptions. Taco Tuesday will only happen at our Mendocino Ave location and Pizza Pie Fridays will only happen at McKinley in Sebastopol… at least for now.”
In Part 2 of this article, we’ll learn about Americana, Ruby Pilates, and some of the other changes happening around downtown.