The web site for Breakfast Culture Club at 711 Chapala Street says they are open for business as usual as does their voice mail. Yelp also says Breakfast is open. However, I received these two message from readers in the last couple of days:
Heard the Breakfast Culture Club on Chapala is no more.
– KimI wanted to tell you that “breakfast culture club” closed and has been sold to another coffee shop. It really did some wonderful things and served as a great community space for all sorts of non profits, musicians and artists…thanks.
– Jane
Yes, word on the street is that crew behind Lighthouse Coffee on the Mesa will be taking it over.
Confirmed the closure from their Instagram page (@breakfastsantabarbara) with the note of “watch this place as something new will be opening up soon.”
Maybe they should have served breakfast
my favorite thing is that they were named breakfast and didn’t serve it…very peversely entertaining all the people walking asking for breakfast and then walking away speechless and perplexed…
Hipsters. Someone should have explained the margins on breakfast, or just the definition of the word ‘breakfast’. I like toast as much as the next guy (as long as he also likes toast), and the place definitely had its fans, but maybe make some eggs and pay the bills?
Jeez, yes… that annoyed me no end.
Hahahaha… f that place. Went in once to get breakfast… “wut… no actual breakfast…???”. Walked out. Never returned, just on principle.
As I said in my Sentinel column (free plug!) Breakfast was a very important art space for many 20-something creators. Saw a lot of great shows there. The closing of Breakfast puts an end to that community in a town that is sorely needing venues for young artists. (They also sold art very well, much more than some commercial galleries). If it is Lighthouse taking over, I fear they will not continue that vibe, judging from Mesa Coffee and Good Cup.
I don’t like to sound like an Edhat person who can only say negative things. But, that place was full of hipster ——-. I read the Sentinel article about the shows and its importance and thought, “Jeez, I had no idea.” Maybe if they would have done better outreach they would have survived. I’m sad to see any business go under, but hopefully whatever comes next will be better and more inclusive.
so i agree with Ted – Breakfast was one of the most successful galleries in town. don’t think of it as a breakfast place think of it as a gallery witih espresso. sorry if that’s too oblique or sophisticated an idea i know in this town people tend to be a bit literal and linear but put Breakfast in that category of “Keeping Santa Barbara Weird and Interesting.” for those who have no interest in that of course it doesn’t matter. for those of us who do care about art, quirky creativity and cool vibes call it hipster or not Breakfast was the best…well it was at least for more than two years not the last three months before it closed. When the original team was running the place specifically as a culture club first, art gallery second, and espresso place third…as a breakfast place never…it was great! the name whether on purpose or not forced people to make a non linear choice. For some people – many – and who says the place has to be for everyone – it just didn’t make sense. that’s cool too. the art was terrific and many people in retail and the artworld marvelled at what they accomplished. it woud be awesome if there was more out of the box thinking around here…nothing lasts forever but it was a great effort!
I don’t think everyone is mocking the vibe, the artwork, or the artists as much as they are the blind hipster idealism. As a customer, sure I love the idea of a cool space with super fast free wifi, cool art, outlets at every table and an ability to work on my laptop for hours on end for the purchase of a coffee based beverage. That doesn’t pay the bills though. They lost money. Every month of their existence. More mainstream business models do too, don’t get me wrong, but anyone with some business sense could tell you it needed a healthy dose of reality to offset the idealism.
A beer and wine license, more food? Maybe a fighting chance. Or dare I say it? Serve some breakfast (gasp!) and pay your bills. I’m sure most customers there can attest they rarely if ever witnessed a customer walking out with art under their arms. Pay your bills first, chase your dream second. Business owners certainly can reconcile the two, but if they don’t…. well you know the story.
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Here’s hoping the new place brings back at least *some* of Breakfast’s vibe but with a more realistic business plan. It’s always sad to see any small business go, regardless of its concept.
How about no breakfast?! Wow. More hipster millenial nonsense from the clueless “raised” by boomers. Did ANYONE walk out with a piece of “art” ?
I don’t think so. However, there appears to be a lot of cognitive dissonance. Can one sustain, maintain, and save for retirement based on coffee sales in a community that really doesn’t appreciate much quality of anything. It’s more illusion of quality, or a show/theatre emblematic of the US. Wish them well, however, there appears to be perhaps a lack of parenting or accepting the harsh realities in the American empire in which hustling/huckstering and getting ahead soley for money are the only metric. “Art “was the cheap veneer of the “culture” to get money and more money.
In 2 years They sold an enormous amount of art – it was a very good gallery for art sales – probably better in terms of young artists selling in terms of number of pieces sold then anywhere else in town. other galleries were inquisitive about the interesting quality that was conducive to their art sales – a quality of living with the work in the coffee and work space – was the answer. Paseo Nuevo took note. a number of the shows sold out and were well reviewed in the press in a town that as we all should acknowledge is redundant with landscape art. Its easy to get – Santa Barbara is a beautiful landscape worth appreciating. But there is naturally others kinds of art. these were photographers and graffiti and conceptual artists so they offered a considerably more contemporary view and subject matter. And before all the old school boomers (of which I am one) and commentators bemoan all these values and express their condescension toward millennials and their work ethic supposedly insufficient parenting and taste you might consider their success – they filled the parking lot everyday with spaces at a premium they filled the gallery and sold paintings they were a vibrant exciting environment they sold a butt load of coffee and avocado toast and they made an impact on the cultural scene. they were a place to hang out for events in the evening and if not for a falling out and some questionable treatment of original participants it would be a success now. There should be more places named breakfast that don’t serve it more places that tweak the staid sensibility of Santa Barbara. I suggest a new place named Brunch!
Reality is it closed; all the purported « butt loads » of coffee and « avocado toast » sales and « enormous » art sales!? Then what happened? All these sales could not sustain nor put humpty Dumpty Reality back together again. reality is a cold shower. How about a restaurant called: Adulting? They can teach millennials how to be Adults. Btw: am an millennial not living at home and based in the American sour truths and realities. Old school is code for truth and authenticity.