Happy Birthday, Three Peas Art Lounge

you hit a milestone

03/07/2010 0:23 AM

By Bonnie McGrath

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It was pretty dark in all the little storefronts along 16th street--the ones at street level in the little string of three-condo buildings between State and Wabash--when I decided to visit Three Peas Art Lounge’s first anniversary party tonight just before 9 PM. I fantasized about it being all dark, too, and then I would return home and write a blog wondering what happened, why everyone was gone a little before the party ended.

But it was open, lit (but dramatically dimlit) and the party hadn’t started yet. I thought I was late--but I turned up early. I had misread the blog post that mentioned it.

The owners assured me all was well on 16th Sreet although two of the storefronts, one of which had belonged to Curves, were empty and waiting to be filled with new businesses. Crishon Lampley, Three Peas’ director of operations, said she thought the idea of all-women exercise studios had come and gone. “Women want to be with the men,” she joked. She said Three Peas had a great year and that their success gave them a reason to celebrate their March 6 opening a year ago.

Three Peas has an interesting concept. It features an art gallery in a sparkly clean, modern and minimalist setting. It rents itself out for events, which include a state of the art music system. And it serves Metropolis coffee and tea, top shelf liquor of all kinds--and cake, baked by a secret bakery. The party featured caramel cake that could be purchased--and red velvet cake for free, but you had to wait for a toast to come later in the evening. There were drink specials for $3--and really good specials for the ladies for $1: vodka with fruit punch, vodka with Red Bull and Vodka with cranberry and pineapple. But any lady sharing the $1 drink “with a fella” would be cut off.

Photographer Numa Perrier had dramatic color photographs on the walls at the party--which were selling for $1800 to $2900. Lampley’s business partner and the gallery curator, Maya-Camille Broussard, explained they were photos of R&B singer N’dambi pretending to be a provocative Betty Davis--not that Bette Davis--but the Betty Davis who was a free spirit and Miles Davis’ second wife.

Lampley explained that Three Peas is in the perfect spot on that particular 16th Street strip because to the west there's a church (True Rock Ministries) and to the east is a church (Old St. Mary's) and if their business was closer to either end, their location near a church would prohibit liquor sales.

Broussard told me when she and Lampley got together through a mutual friend and started planning their Three Peas Art Lounge a while back, it was a year before they found out that Broussard’s grandfather and Lampley’s father had been in business together for several years during the 60s. They ran the first black nursery school, which they called Maple Leaf. It was on the south side, according to Broussard, but she wasn’t sure where exactly.

Both Broussard and Lampley said that historic fact about their families was “kismet.”


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By stephen reginald from south loop
Posted: 03/07/2010 11:08 AM

I as planning to go to this event, but I wasn't able to. Glad it was a success. Three Peas is a nice addition to the neighborhood.