Nuestra historia

Named for a ranch in Michoacán.

We named La Ciendita after the ranch of Jessica Vanessa Olivera’s great-great-uncle in Coalcomán.

This is about familia, in fact, it always has been, it’s where ‘la ciendita’ comes from.

We’re Jessica Vanessa Olivera and Octavio Acosta, wife and husband.

How we got here

  1. A small vintage corner in 2021: a ladder rack of clothes, a horse painting and a paper lamp.

    2021

    A tiny corner inside Redwood Retro in Old Town Eureka.

  2. The founder beside her clothing rack and a framed painting at the Blue Lake summer market.

    2022

    Pop-ups at the Blue Lake summer market, marigolds on the table.

  3. The white building at 655 9th St before the sign went up, with the bronze sculpture out front.

    Aug 2024

    We got the keys to 655 9th St.

  4. The grand opening flyer with a small photo of the owners and their toddler.

    Oct 5, 2024

    Opening day: ceremony, ribbon cutting, comida and all the cumbias your heart desires.

Why we’re here

  • To cultivate and celebrate our cultural heritage.
  • To give local artists, makers and farmers a platform.
  • To be a hub for our comunidad.
  • To treat beauty as a form of empowerment.
An instant photo of co-owners Octavio Acosta and Jessica Vanessa Olivera with their daughter: Octavio in a hat and sunglasses, Vanessa in a pink lace dress, their little girl in white, in front of a flowering bush.
A pencil sketch of a mare and her foal.

We stand with our immigrant familia. We don’t turn our cultura down for anyone.

Read about us: El Leñador (opens in a new tab) Redwood News (opens in a new tab)

Familia Wall

Like the wall at your abuela’s house: pictures, trinkets and the people who make this place glow.

  • Opening day: a crowd of familia and friends, elders and kids among them, holding a red ribbon in front of the white shop with its carved La Ciendita sign.
    Opening day, Oct 5, 2024
  • Octavio in sunglasses and a red neckerchief, holding his daughter in a red ruffled dress inside the shop.
    Papá bear
  • Black and white portrait of a man in a black brimmed hat and suspenders, tattoos on his arms, in front of the painted wood Nemiliztli installation.
  • A woman with a marigold tucked in her hair sits in the rust velvet chair holding a mug, under the painting of corn and clay vessels.
  • A woman in glasses and a man in a fur coat laugh together at an art pop-up, colorful prints hung on the courtyard wall behind them.
  • Octavio in a felt hat kisses a sleeping newborn in a bright knitted cap, a red truck and tall trees behind them.
  • Black and white portrait of a woman in a white cowboy hat and a heart-patterned sweater vest, beside the shop door.
  • 2022: the founder, pregnant, in a wide white hat behind a hand-lettered La Ciendita sign lined with marigolds at the Blue Lake summer market.
    Blue Lake market, 2022
  • Friends gather in the courtyard at dusk for the Posada, string lights on and pink arch murals behind them.
    Posada, 2025
  • Octavio in a dark felt hat and a pale linen shirt and trousers, hands in his pockets, standing among ferns in a redwood forest.
  • Black and white portrait of a young man with a mustache, seated on a wooden chair in the courtyard among plants and string lights.
  • Kids and a grown-up in a straw hat crouch over a tapete of colored sawdust on Día de los Muertos.
    Día de los Muertos, 2025
  • An old family photo: a small boy in a blue sweater rides a palomino horse among tall pines.
  • A painter in a black cowboy hat and denim jacket paints a face on a big pink panel in the gravel courtyard.
    Painting Nemiliztli, 2024
  • A toddler draws on the traced mural paper spread on the ground.
  • A man in a denim apron holds up a jar of salsa at a community dinner, the lit courtyard and pink arches glowing through the window behind him.
    Community dinner
  • Black and white profile of a woman tipping a white cowboy hat, long shell and bead earrings swinging.
  • Octavio in white clown face paint and a red bandana, next to a papier-mâché skeleton on the courtyard’s iron gate.
  • Two men planning the Nemiliztli installation over sketches at a work table.
  • A corner of the shop wall: a steer skull, a heart painting, luchador masks and a skeleton.
  • A wooden nicho with candles, carved flower candles and small treasures.
  • An ofrenda against the white clapboard wall: an arch of marigolds, family photos and candles.
    Ofrenda, 2024
  • Chapulin, the shop’s Xolo, in a gray sweater in the courtyard, pink arch murals and marigolds behind him.
    Chapulin, Secretary of Press
  • Octavio in a white hat walks a sunny field with a toddler.

Y’all came with your blessings, support, excitement, dance moves, but most of all a heart wide open!