If it’s true that plants benefit from good vibes, then the greenery at 324 Elm Avenue in Downtown’s East Village is super healthy. Vida Plant Shop, which opened on North Pine Avenue during the pandemic, is now sharing space at its new address on Elm with The Record Box music shop, and good vibes were in abundance on the evening of March 4 when the two businesses hosted an art show by local ceramicist Beth Bowman.
Art show attendees sipped some tasty bubbly and enjoyed Bowman’s hand-thrown ceramics, which she creates in her Belmont Heights home studio. She fires her pottery Downtown, in the kilns of the full-service East Village pottery studio Clay on First.
Record Box owner Jose Jurado, who opened his shop at 930 Pine Avenue in 2018 and recently joined forces with Vida Plant Shop owner Sasha Pace at the Elm Avenue address, spun vinyl and had guests grooving throughout the evening.
“Plants thrive with music – and so do people, of course,” said Jurado. “Our shop is a place where art, life, and culture grow.”
Bowman, who has an extensive career background in floral design and began doing pottery as a side hustle ten years ago, expressed her satisfaction with the business side of the event.
“I’m a small business. Vida Plants is a small business,” she told us. “The clay I get comes from a manufacturer in Santa Ana called Aardvark. Then we’ve got Clay on First in the mix. By the time anybody buys anything here at Vida, they’ve supported every small business in the chain. We’re all in this together.”
Pace was looking to fill the shelves at her shop’s new location with the work of local artists: Bowman was the first person she called. “I like to shine a light on people in our neighborhood who are contributing and are so talented,” she said.
Pace sent Bowman images of the profile and silhouette she wanted for her shop’s pottery. The items Bowman produced are earthy with a natural flow, perfectly complementing the beautiful assortment of plants on display. The items primarily designed by Pace have the Vida logo stamped and baked into them. “I’m helping bring out Beth’s vision of pottery and how it gets styled into one’s life,” explained Pace.
As luck would have it, Saturday, April 22, is both Earth Day and Record Store Day. Pace and Jurado are planning an event suitable for the occasion. Make sure to be there that day — or any day — to pick out some exotic houseplants and the accessories needed to take good care of them, and pair your new plants with pots made by Bowman. 
Jurado will serenade you on the turntables, which will inspire you to peruse his fine selection of collectible vinyl from many eras and genres. You’ll experience some of the best vibes Downtown has to offer while enhancing your well-being and the good health of the Downtown small business community. Visit the shop soon and experience a healing blend of pottery, plants, and great music!
We’re always on the lookout for Downtown businesses, events, community members and more to highlight in our Downtown Scene newsletter, on our website, and social media channels! If you have an event coming up or know of any Downtown-based amazingness going on that people need to know about, give us a shout by emailing our Communications & Marketing Manager, Asia Morris, at asiam@dlba.org. You can also submit an upcoming Downtown event to our events calendar at downtownlongbeach.org/events.