These third spaces make SOMA feel like home
L-R: Students at Indigo Road Studio Pottery; delectable treats at The Able Baker; the patio at Perch Home & Co
Ancient Greece had the agora. Rome had a Forum. In Europe, there were coffeehouses. These were all places that weren’t where you lived (first spaces) or worked (second spaces).
Third spaces are the spots people in a community can have a conversation or just be around others and have fun. If you’re lucky, you have your own third space where you look forward to relaxing with friends and neighbors. But if not, we have recommendations for you.
South Orange and Maplewood have vibrant community spaces for us to gather, chat, and exchange ideas. These third spaces may seem incidental, but they are important to the fabric of our community.
According to sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book The Great Good Place, these spaces are informal, with light-hearted atmospheres and don’t emphasize social status. They have a certain number of people who are regulars and conversation is easy to come by. Third spaces are where community is built. Our area is chock full of third spaces that give SOMA the flavor and texture we all love. Here are just a few that make SOMA well, SOMA:
THE ABLE BAKER
The Able Baker (theablebaker.com) has now been in business for 15 years but feels like it’s always been a central part of the Maplewood and South Orange communities. It’s hard to find a resident who doesn’t go there regularly. The bakery is a ready-made third space. There is an outside space as well where customers can sit and socialize. People will even bundle up in January to sit there with friends.
Says Maplewood resident Sterling Bland, “Working from home means I can be focused and productive. But that productivity comes at the price of isolation. Going to Able Baker gives me a chance to see friendly, familiar faces.”
In 2011, Julie Pauly opened the brick-and-mortar bakery at 187 Maplewood Avenue in what used to be Silvio’s Hair Salon. It has a comfortable 1940s kitchen vibe, offers amazing coffee and tea options, and has delicious staples like scones and banana bread complemented by daily and seasonal specials. Even the gluten-free offerings are mouthwateringly delicious.
“Whether you stay and sit for a while or grab and go, you get a little slice of SOMA,” says Pauly, who enjoys interacting with customers.
Pauly works hard to give back to SOMA too. “It’s important to me to support charitable organizations in our community,” she says. The Able Baker sponsors and works with organizations like The Achieve Foundation, M.E.N.D., The Community Coalition on Race, and The Isaiah House. It gives 1% of gross sales to charitable organizations important to our communities and has employed graduates of Columbia High School classes 2008-present.
For readers in South Orange there is extra good news. The Able Baker has signed a lease at the Fourth and Valley development. The space is bigger and will have indoor as well as outdoor seating. The fare will be the same as the location in Maplewood. Watch for it to open in 2025.
Generosity, hard work, and good food have made The Able Baker an important part of our community. Occasionally a customer will let Pauly know how important this third space is. You realize this isn’t your bakery,” said one customer to Pauly recently. “It’s our space,” he said, gesturing to customers around the store. Regardless of to whom it belongs, The Able Baker is a third space we can all enjoy.
INDIGO ROAD STUDIO POTTERY
Vose Avenue in downtown South Orange has been popping lately. A vibrant pottery community is growing in a little studio just off South Orange Avenue. If you haven’t heard about it, ask your neighbors. Someone you know is almost certainly a pot(tery) head.
Owner Lindsey Shevkun opened CLAY by Indigo Road Studio Pottery (indigoroadstudio.com) at 10 Vose Avenue in January 2023. She resigned from her job teaching art education at Plainfield High School when the pandemic complicated teaching ceramics and mural arts. “After that, I was producing pottery and weaving in my basement, then selling my art online. Once in a while someone would ask me about teaching a class, but I didn’t have the space,” says Shevkun.
Shevkun started selling at Maplewood’s General Store. “I looked for a year but couldn’t find any space of my own,” she says. When a space on Vose Avenue opened up, she knew it was right. Offering classes in her sleek, understated space with eight wheels, Shevkun says, “I didn’t know whether my students would return for additional classes. It was terrifying.”
Indigo Road now has an energetic community with more than 100 members. It grew so fast that the studio became too small for the number of students who wanted to take classes. So Shevkun took another leap and in June of 2024 opened the Workshop studio for more advanced students in the alley off South Orange Avenue near Pet Wants.
This studio caters to students who have taken classes and are ready to develop skills on their own. Looking around the studio, the magic of the pottery community is everywhere. There is a diversity of ages and backgrounds. Some students who didn’t know each other a year ago are now friends. Ideas are swapped as students work. Ceramic glaze issues are discussed casually among those throwing new pottery on the wheel. Photos are posted in the community’s What’s App Chat when finished ceramics are placed on the shelf as the kiln is emptied. Students rush to compliment others who tried something daring or difficult.
Says Workshop member JoAnne Steglitz, “I don’t need a therapist. I have pottery.”
If you are interested in buying some amazing ceramics from up-and-coming artists, the community reaches out to the public for occasional Makers Market sales. The next one is during South Orange’s Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30 near the Workshop at 63B South Orange Avenue.
PERCH HOME & CO.
Perch Home & Co. is a fun example of a retail store with such a good vibe it grew into its own third space.
Michele Bessey opened Perch Home & Co. at 6 ½ Highland Place in 2006. It calls itself “a stylish and curated lifestyle shop” and somehow makes you feel happy when you go inside.
It started with a tiny space but was oversized in its welcoming look and feel. People wanted to come in just to enjoy the ambiance. The curated merchandise sourced from local artisans made it a fun place to poke around. “We’d see customers come in to shop and wind up chatting for 20 minutes with other customers,” says Claire McGee, Columbia High School class of ‘09 and store manager. But the store was small and didn’t support the level of socialization it inspired. So when Perch Home & Co. lost its lease in 2022, Bessey and McGee saw a silver lining. Now they could find a new location and remake the store to be the third space it seemed meant to be.
Perch Home & Co. relocated to its new space across the street at 89 Baker Street in 2023. This space is much larger and has space for more merchandise. Plus it offers an eating area of 10 tables, spaced so it’s easy to have conversations with neighboring tables, bringing to mind a bistro in Paris or Florence.
The addition of food, beverages and gelato brought chef Fateen Carter to Perch Home Cafe. He jumped in with both feet and now offers brunch, special dinners (check PerchHome.com to sign up) and fabulous pastries. There is a special emphasis on non-alcoholic beverages and an extensive menu of mocktails. Perch Home & Co. has transformed into a perfect third space. The community is responding. The new space now opens early for a new moms’ group. It also hosts a quilting group, a felting group, people working on scripts together, and many first dates.
Says Jenny Winters as she and her daughter check out a jewelry case, coffee in hand, “Every time I’m here it seems I run into someone … it happens so much that now I look forward to going to Perch to discover who I might see next.”
The space is so well designed it won the top award for Top Retail Store Redesign this year from the 2024 Retailer Excellence Awards in Dallas. For those readers who don’t speak retail, this award is akin to the Academy Award of retail space design. The space is efficient, warm, uncramped, and inviting.
Perch Home has a large patio space to further its appeal to the community. This winter season, Perch Home & Co. will have heaters, hot cocoa and tartan blankets outside to make the Tabletop S’mores nights more comfortable. Classic movie showings are also in the works.
If you’d rather be inside experiencing the Enchanted Forest holiday theme, you won’t want to miss a formal holiday tea with vintage teacups and proper sandwiches. Check the website to sign up.
Just as ancient societies had their gathering places, South Orange and Maplewood are fortunate to have their own vibrant third spaces. These are the modernday agoras, where community members meet, relax, and connect over shared experiences. From the comforting aroma of fresh-baked goods at Able Baker, to the creative buzz of Indigo Road Studio Pottery, and the warm ambiance of Perch Home, these spaces are more than just places to visit. They bring us together, reminding us of the importance of community, conversation, and connection. As we support and nurture these spaces, we help preserve the rich social fabric that makes our towns feel like home.
Adrianna Donat is a writer enjoying SOMA’s third spaces, one pastry and pot at a time.
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