A short film from a night with friends: string lights through an iron gate, orange flowers, a guitarist’s hands on the strings, a flame under a comal, and friends cooking under a tent.

A short film from the courtyard: the iron gate and string lights at night, guests arriving for the Posada at dusk, a guest dancing under the string lights, a guitarist playing, and a flame under a comal.

655 9th St · Arcata, Califas

A Latinx and Indigenous boutique with a heartbeat.

Arte, libros, cositas y comunidad inside. Music, markets and pop-ups out in the courtyard.

Visit the shop See courtyard events

Open Wed to Sat

Pa’ que sepan

Not a restaurant.Not a quiet gift shop.Not tourist kitsch.

We’re a Latinx and Indigenous boutique and community space, Chicano family owned. Local makers inside. A courtyard out back. Familia at the center of all of it.

This isn’t just a tiendita, it’s your space, to be loud, to be proud, to represent, to let that guard down, to chase those dreams.

Inside La Ciendita: a pink painted arch hung with a marigold garland, wood tables of handmade soaps and jewelry, a shelf of books and a rack of clothes.

La tienda

Things that feel like home.

Cositas that bring you warmth and joy, plantitas that connect you back to madre tierra, arte to remind you where you come from. Latinx, Indigenous and other BIPOC artists and makers get our shelves first, many of them from right here in Humboldt.

  • An arch-topped linocut print of tall corn stalks, reading “Desde la tierra hasta el sol,” by Palote Press.

    Arte

    Art

    Prints, paintings, etchings and pañuelos by artists we love.

  • Handwoven beargrass earrings with rose quartz, made by payahupaway.

    Joyería

    Jewelry

    Beargrass weaving and handmade ceramics.

  • A spread of bilingual children’s books on a cream textile and sheepskin.

    Libros

    Books

    Bilingual books para toda la familia.

  • A bottle of agua florida, chunks of copal resin in an abalone shell and fresh ruda, laid on black cloth embroidered with flowers.

    Hierbas

    Herbs and plant medicine

    Copal, ruda, agua florida, oils and salves.

  • Bags of blue, red and white corn masa harina beside a cast iron tortilla press and a woven tortilla basket.

    Masa

    Masa and kitchen

    Fresh masa from a local co-op, tortilla presses and baskets.

  • A leather patch stamped “Hecho en Humboldt” next to the carved printing block that made it.

    Hecho en Humboldt

    Patches and apparel

    Leather patches, tees, totes and one-of-a-kind bags.

  • Gold tin milagro heart mirrors and small wooden frames painted “Mi Amor.”

    Casa y altar

    Home and altar

    Milagro mirrors, candles for your ofrenda, hand-painted altars.

  • Young corn starts in a pot, held up in front of the shop’s big painting of corn and clay vessels.

    Plantitas

    Plants and seeds

    Starts from seeds our familia has kept for years.

Gift cards available in the shop.

Comunidad

Come for a gift. Leave with a whole network.

The artists, growers and organizers you meet here are our neighbors. Now they’re yours too.

Makers on our shelves

1 of 10

Who you’ll meet here

Organizers, healers, growers and artists.

To all our artists, creators and vendors, thanks for being a part of this journey, and trusting us. You truly make this place glow.

La Ciendita, one-year anniversary, October 2025

Are you a maker? Ask for us in the shop. Message us on Instagram (opens in a new tab)

El patio

The courtyard is our heartbeat.

Walk through the black iron gate and you’re out back: string lights, murals, plants and a lot of familia. The courtyard is open whenever the shop is.

The courtyard on a sunny day: raised garden beds, a wooden bench and gravel under string lights.
  • A pink arch mural on the courtyard wall: a red sacred heart with roses and lavender above a field of painted marigolds, under string lights.
  • A DJ spinning records in the courtyard at an art pop-up, string lights and plants behind.
  • A painter in a straw cowboy hat and a brown work jacket paints the Nemiliztli panel in the gravel courtyard: a gray stone face ringed with bright orange, purple and blue swirls.
  • A smiling woman in an embroidered blouse and long beaded earrings stands at a table of herbs and jars, in front of the pink and white courtyard wall.

What happens here

Our big days

  • A smiling folklórico dancer in a yellow dress and calavera face paint holds her striped skirt out wide in the courtyard on Día de los Muertos, with a dancer in red behind her under papel picado.

    Día de los Muertos

    Nov 2024 and Nov 2025

    “Gracias ancestros por hoy y cada día.”

  • A Posada and piñata contest flyer with an alebrije lizard piñata.

    Posada y piñatas

    Dec 14, 2025

  • The La Ciendita storefront outlined in string lights, with a one year anniversary flyer over it.

    Our anniversary

    Opened Oct 5, 2024 · One year on Oct 4, 2025

Want to bring a market, a workshop or a set to the courtyard? Message us on Instagram (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!

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)

Visítanos

Come see us.

The front of La Ciendita on a sunny day: a white clapboard building with a carved wood La Ciendita sign, a pink door, a 655 mailbox and a bronze sculpture of two figures out front.
655 9th St, Arcata, CA 95521

One block from the Arcata Plaza, next to the fire station.

Hours

Wednesday
11 am to 6 pm
Thursday
11 am to 6 pm
Friday
11 am to 6 pm
Saturday
10 am to 4 pm
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday
Closed
Get directions Call 310-743-5237 @la.ciendita on Instagram (opens in a new tab)

We’re all about creating a market for our people and our artists and about cultivating our cultura.

How to find us

  1. The carved wood La Ciendita sign over the shop door.

    Look for the white building with the carved La Ciendita sign.

  2. The black 655 mailbox beside the open pink shop door as someone steps inside.

    The pink door by the 655 mailbox is the shop.

  3. The black wrought iron courtyard gate seen from the street, flowers at its base.

    The black iron gate beside the shop opens to the courtyard.