City on a Hill Press is dedicated to continuing coverage of the threatened closure of The Catalyst.
When Alyssa Pullen, a third-generation Santa Cruz local and owner of the Tea House Spa in Downtown Santa Cruz, learned of the impending shutdown of the historic Catalyst music venue indirectly via an online article, she was devastated.
At the time, Pullen didn’t realize the potential implications would force her business to close during construction. The Tea House Spa and The Catalyst are longtime neighbors, having shared a wall since the spa opened in 1984. If GSH Ventures, the management company who bought out The Catalyst, decides to proceed with ground-up renovations, the spa would be closed for at least three months during the demolition period.
“It’s such a bummer to be a small business in the neighboring property and [GSH Ventures] didn’t reach out to us directly,” Pullen said. “We found out from an article on Facebook.”
The spa offers massages, hot tub soaks, sauna rooms and a curated menu of artisan teas. Pullen is also the landlord of four two-bedroom residential units above the main business.
Now, due to noise and privacy concerns resulting from a separate, ongoing two-year-long construction project, Pullen is forced to decide between a temporary or permanent closure.
Nowhere Left To Turn
The noise pollution from another long-term Downtown Santa Cruz construction project, the Pacific Station North Redevelopment, has already resulted in several of Pullen’s tenants moving out. Pullen is left to wonder if this upcoming next-door excavation will exacerbate these issues.
“They’re on year two or three of shutting down the metro, building [an] apartment complex and new bus station,” Pullen said. “We’ve had tenants move out because of construction noise — people that work from home or work nights. They’ve been our residents for 10 years.”
Due to the ongoing uncertain nature of Santa Cruz’s economy, the Office of Economic Development offers various programs that aid small businesses in permanently relocating somewhere else in Santa Cruz.
However, with the high costs involved in moving operations, that is not an option for Pullen.
“We have looked at other properties. Everything affordable is being swooped up by developers [and] there’s nothing available close to downtown,” Pullen said. “Our options are extremely limited. Our number one goal is to stay open and only close if we have to for the shortest amount of time, so that we can retain staff, our momentum and stay open for our Santa Cruz community.”
Meanwhile, GSH Ventures plans to construct 64 two and three-bedroom “condos” where The Catalyst currently resides, available for purchase rather than lease. Local housing guidelines demand at least 15% of units to be classified as “affordable”.
Besides a potential decrease in both tenants and customers, Pullen expressed that her largest concern was the nearly 100-year-old bamboo botanical garden in the back of the building, which all three massage sub-rooms overlook.
“Our gardener [Enrique Ortíz Villegas] is 82 years old, sings to all the plants every morning and hand waters everything,” Pullen said. “A seven-storied apartment building on two out of three of the sides of the garden [is] going to impact the amount of sunshine the garden gets.”
42 Years of Rest and Relaxation
Of crucial importance to the Tea House Spa is its rich legacy in the walls and gardens, spanning generations of owners committed to connection with the greater Santa Cruz community.
One such owner is Anne Sunlight, who established her teahouse and garden in the late 1940s. In the midst of World War II Japanese internment camps, Sunlight hosted community gatherings complemented with tea in order to foster understanding across racial dividing lines. The garden was left without care from the late 1950s to 1970, until tenants Randall and Aimee Nelson moved into the apartments. After residing for eight years, the Nelsons renovated and eventually reopened the teahouse.
Alyssa Pullen acquired ownership of the spa in 2022 after the death of a member of the Nelson family. Her family and greater community have a long history of coming to the spa, she reminisces on getting gift cards to the Tea House for her dad for every major holiday.
“It’s been long enough that almost everybody in my community knows about it, and has been there and has enjoyed it. It’s this positive space of reflection, calm and relaxation,” Pullen said. “I wanted to be a part of it and make sure that even with the original owner’s passing, we could carry the torch and continue that legacy.”
Pullen created the Tea House as a hub of peace, harmony and tranquility — then as a conversation space and now as a sanctuary for the body and nervous system. Pullen framed the incoming renovations as a stark change to this carefully crafted peace.
“Local businesses help the community so much more than shopping at big box stores or Amazon. It keeps the money and the investment in our communities,” Pullen said. “Rather than paying a chain store for some higher up to purchase a summer home, you’re helping a mom pay for her kid’s soccer lessons.”
The Save The Catalyst Coalition consists of community members taking action against the continued loss of shared spaces in Santa Cruz. The group is organizing to take the issue to the state level, as they feel their concerns are not being heard or met by local officials. They convene monthly on Zoom, and can be reached either on Instagram @savethecatalyst or at savethecatalyst@gmail.com.