The sounds of espresso shots pouring and milk being steamed filled the air around Sydney Strange as she read a fantasy novel and drank a soda at A Seat at the Table — a queer-owned book and coffee shop that caters to Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ community.
Strange, 22, lives in Fair Oaks. She regularly makes the 30 to 40-minute commute to the Elk Grove business to buy books, enjoy specialty drinks and be with her community.
“Very few places are a bookstore and a coffee shop and have a really fun community,” Strange said during a recent visit. “Right now, with the way the world is, we need that sense of community so much. Even if it wasn’t politically hell, it’s so important to have a good community of like-minded people, and even not like-minded people, to get together, share ideas and bond.”
Strange is also a fan of the shop’s book selections, noting that they carry niche books and genres — including books by local authors and a curated LGBTQI+ section — that cater to her interests.
“As a queer woman, it’s really nice to get a lot of books that are representative of that,” she added. “More diverse books than the commonplace.”
The queer- and family-owned business opened in November 2021 after store owner Emily Autenrieth held several pop-up events at markets and local businesses. Even though she’s been able to form a strong community, she added that the cost of operating a business like this is high.
Michael Colatrella, professor of law at University of the Pacific, teaches a training course in Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 1, 2023 for the Nueva Epoca program.Kristin Lam/CapRadio“We’re getting close to that critical mass of support, but on the whole, it’s been very hard to make ends meet,” she said. “Elk Grove was raised by big box stores. Rent is really high here, so it’s hard to get a footing as a small business.”
The store has created a nonprofit — A Seat At The Table Community Initiative — to help raise funds.
Jasmine Nutt is the nonprofit’s president. She said her organization’s goal is to make sure the business is foundationally secure and to take pressure off the bookstore because it is “doing a lot of work that is in a nonprofit space.”
Nutt added that one of her priorities is to establish the bookstore as a trusted space for diversity, equity and inclusion, which she argued are lacking in the Sacramento region.
“It’s not just this blanket statement of racial equity,” she said. “It’s more than that. It’s different abilities being able to thrive, different needs being able to be accommodated, and it’s a third pace that really functions for everyone. That’s what I think that they’re doing and I think they’re doing a great job.”
As a social worker, Nutt argued that DEI is “probably the biggest burden to carry,” noting that many who are against it have become emboldened under the Trump administration.
“But, this is still Sacramento,” she added. “Sacramento is the place for DEI. It is the place for belonging and it is the place for inclusivity and accessibility.”
Recently, the bookstore experienced targeted harassment during an inclusive event. On occasion, it hosts drag story times in which a drag queen reads a book to kids. Its most recent story time was interrupted by someone who heard about the event online.
Drag storytime incident
On Jan. 11, a protester attended a Drag Storytime event at the business with a megaphone to harass the establishment and the parents who brought their children to the family event.
Jonathan Lopez, whose stage name is Hellen Heels, was running the event. He said he wasn’t surprised by the incident.
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today
