‘Everything is local’
South Side Coffee Co. captures Lompoc’s spirit with gallery of local art vendors
FILL YOUR CUP WITH ART: Located at 105 S H St., South Side Coffee Co. is more of a community art center that serves coffee and food than a cafe decorated with art. Owner/operator Halle Bedford hosts exhibits by local artists with pieces for sale all throughout the shop. South Side Coffee Company is open Mondays through Fridays from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. It can be found on Facebook and Instagram under its name. For questions, call 805-737-3730.
The divided storefront along the South H Street strip of West Ocean Avenue is meant to catch the eyes of more than just the occasional observant stroller.
Designed by a man named Terry, the right half is decorated with rainbow flags, cats, doves, flamingoes, and flowers: pink, white, orange, yellow, purple, and magenta. The left side presents a scene so white, it looks like a blizzard. Beside a floating plastic bag cloud and a Kool-Aid man-style plover bird bursting from the wall, signs reading “There’s nothing to do in Lompoc” surround a QR code that takes visitors to a website listing local activities and entertainment.
Welcome to Lompoc’s South Side Coffee Co., which serves more as a community art gallery than a typical cafe.
After walking past the assortment of window signs advertising local events, services, and even missing dogs, and through the glass door entrance, customers are welcomed with a refreshing burst of creative air.
To the left, a rack of clothes from @shopvintagesouls on Instagram includes a brown wool knit sweater and a white twist knit long-sleeve shirt. To the right, a rotating postcard display rack displays pictures of vineyard grapes, blue shoresides, green meadows with white flowers and black cows, and purple, red, and pink petals in the Lompoc Flower Fields.
A gumball machine of $1 stickers stands next to a cup attached to the wall filled with 99-cent rainbow pinwheels.
Below two Lulu’s Surfboards, rows of white shelves showcase local artists’ work with tiny exhibits.
Starting from the end closest to the front door, Terri Cecchine’s Teresa the Tenacious children’s book collection sits in front of a mini rack of rose, mushroom, evil eye, pink butterfly, and yin and yang earrings. Above, a wicker basket of Marlena Mendoza’s rad ribbons and clip bows is situated beside CaliCreations805’s San Francisco Giants tumbler and PJ Masks sippy cup. On top of that, a shelf of Julia Esparza Campos Mendez’s succulent arrangements displays miniature flower pots of a bumble bee, owl, pig, cowboy boots, and more.
“Everything is local,” owner/operator Halle Bedford said. “The food, the drinks, and the artists.”
Instead of seeking rent from the artists she hosts, Bedford said South Side’s gallery is nothing more than a venue for them to show their work off to the community. She said art purchases at South Side function off the honor system.
“I don't take a percentage from any of the artists,” she said. “Nothing goes through my system.”
She said most of the artists she hosts are friends she’s made at the coffee shop or at local community gatherings.
Moving to the middle of the shelves, Holly Dyer’s $2.50 mugs are positioned underneath Santa Luz Studio’s devil-themed “dump him” stickers, set of mushroom earrings, and black and white “no scrubs allowed” keychain.
The Lompoc Company’s center-stage display shows off its all-natural hand-breaded Dyre Dirt barbecue rub flavors—Sparkle, Dust, 42, Savor, Splash, Click, BAA, Oink, and Moo—atop vinegars including jalapeño lime, pear and cranberry, strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, fig, rosemary, orange, lemon, chili, and garlic.
At the very top, the company’s rainbow array of buckets contains 100 percent pure, non-GMO, and neonicotinoid-free seeds. Some of the ones available are sweet peas from the San Julian Meadows, poppies from the Santa Rita Hills, cornflower from Vandenberg, and wildflowers from Jamala Ridge and La Purisima Valley.
The left side hosts Debra Watson’s CBD bath salts, Iris Sharp’s cartoonish portraits of women with accentuated features, Amalgam Wares’ artisan ceramic earrings, Cindy’s 805 postcards, and @Junesng on Venmo’s individual letter and number resin keychains.
High Buddy Novelties’ Jonathan Villa’s rainbow cluster of 3D-printed Pokémon character trinkets includes a yellow Pikachu, an orange Charmander, a blue Squirtle, a green Bulbasaur, a red Eevee, and a purple Gengar. A dragon with pastel blue, pink, and white stripes like the transgender flag lies to their left.
Above, Barclay's Glassblowing Studio showcases pens with the most adorable little cats, lizards, turtles, and sharks and straws with clownfish, frogs, rockets, dolphins, and octopuses, beautifully complementing Witchy Stitching’s zodiac earrings.
When they approach the counter to order, customers encounter a case of stickers with sayings like “take a hike” and “ask me about my plants” next to a bowl of glass flower phone charms. Even the refrigerator of to-go snacks hosts Sarah Schwenk’s and Jessica’s Jewels’ bracelets, earrings, and necklaces.
Along with the white, “There’s nothing to do in Lompoc” storefront display and sticker gumball machine, Manic Creative’s Jasmine Gonzalez also sells postcards, like the one with halos floating above teeth that reads “I was never wise.”
Inspired by Thomas Dambo’s troll exhibit in Solvang and his use of recycled materials, Gonzalez said she made her display out of cardboard and trash.
“Right now, I’m focused on large-scale, weird, public art,” Gonzalez said. “Seeing something on such a large scale made me think, ‘Why am I not making bigger art?’”
She said her display is designed to catch people off guard and hopes it will raise questions in their minds.
“There are so many things we walk by that our minds just automatically assume the surroundings of,” Gonzalez said. “I want to create more of that stop sign art, where you are captivated by what's going on because you don't necessarily understand it.”
After moving to Lompoc in 2017, Gonzalez, who also runs the Pot Mama’s Social Club with Anna Look, started Manic Creative in 2020.
“Because somebody misspoke years ago and called it an armpit instead of an elbow, there's this love of self-hatred in Lompoc, rather than owning our narrative and embracing our quirks and absurdities that make us unique,” Gonzalez said, referring to a comment made by U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) in 2016. “Lompoc is an underdog town, and the arts are an underdog scene. You have to immerse yourself in that scene to find it’s full of incredible artists. It’s empowering the more you dedicate time and energy to being a part of your community.”
She said she hopes her conversation-sparking display will lead Lompoc residents to replace their self-deprecation with pride.
“If there's nothing to do in Lompoc, it's just because you're not engaging with what there is to do in Lompoc,” Gonzalez said. “This is the time when you have to make the magic to experience it.”
Always thinking of her city, she said she intends to keep playing with the plover in future pieces.
“I love the fact that there is a small, little, almost mascot of a bird that Lompoc gets to have an opinion over,” Gonzalez said. “Whether it's good or bad, it's something that's talked about, and it's something specific to Lompoc.”
She said South Side’s community-led gallery is simply “artists supporting artists.”
“Everyone needs a good, safe third place, and South Side prides itself on that,” Gonzalez said. “It gives opportunities to artists who want to make weird installations in their windows. It’s a hub for small groups and local organizations to host meetings. Halle and South Side have provided an iconic spot for local artists to sample the uniqueness Lompoc has to offer. There’s so much talent in this town. I’m honored to know I can put my quirky self out there and be accepted. Everyone’s unique, and it’s cool to see how that’s embraced in this community.”
*This story was originally published July 3, 2025, at https://www.santamariasun.com/arts/south-side-coffee-company-captures-lompocs-artistic-spirit-with-gallery-of-local-art-vendors-16643664