They say necessity is the mother of invention and in Petaluma, two mothers are teaming up to invent a new kind of coffee shop and it’s happening in a most unlikely location.
When she worked as a barista, Elena Kaljian got pretty good at making coffee. But when she had a child, she noticed something.
“I was at a coffee shop when I was a brand-new mom, with my little baby and my stroller and other friends with babies and strollers. And we were just trying to get together and there wasn’t any space for us,” she said. “And that’s kind of when this idea first came to me on the coffee side: create a space where families can come together and not feel like they are taking up too much space, the kids are too loud, they don’t have a place to put the stroller and can just be.”
“I feel that a lot of coffee shops that consider themselves ‘high end’ aren’t as welcoming as they could be to families, especially families with young children,” said Kate Greenspan.
Greenspan is also a mom who doesn’t really like coffee but does like art. So, she opened a mobile art play business for kids.
She was looking for a way to make it a brick-and-mortar enterprise, perhaps by offering coffee to the parents. The two met by accident, each with the same basic idea in mind.
“Similar,” Elena said. “I was really focused on the cafe, coffee shop and play space. And Kate was really focused on the art studio with a possibility of a coffee shop and it all came together really beautifully.”
Their idea is the Art Play Cafe that’s now under construction on Kentucky Street in downtown Petaluma. In addition to coffee, it will be dripping with irony. The location is the former Roaring Donkey, a downtown saloon that Elena said she visited a few times, but police were forced to visit quite often.
“It got a little rowdy sometimes,” she said. “I mean, I wasn’t there for that, but, yeah, it was known for that a bit.”
A fight last April was the last straw. The city shut the bar down by revoking its liquor license and it’s been shuttered ever since.
Now the two partners are in the process of reopening it as a kid-friendly cafe. Food and coffee drinks will be served at the bar with a play area in front and the art studio and birthday party area set back in the bar’s old karaoke room.
“A lot of the community feedback has been so positive, and people are saying, ‘Oh, I used to dance on tables, and now I’ll bring my kid in,'” said Elena, laughing. “Kind of a funny full-circle moment.”
They expect to open sometime in June. Next weekend is Petaluma’s annual Butter and Egg Days Parade, and the two partners say they will hold an informal open house to introduce the public to their plans for the new cafe. I
It felt like fate brought them together, but one thing still bothered Kate and Elena: the sign over the door saying, “No one under 21 allowed.”
“Absolutely,” said Kate, “Everyone under 21 is going to be allowed, now.”
So, with a scraper in hand, they began removing the sign, ending the reign of the Roaring Donkey and starting a new story about a place where kids are very much “allowed.”
