Works from CHS art teacher Christina Vodicka are on display at Archive, Cherokee Street’s newest addition.

With most windows lining Cherokee Street long dark, the typical book, antique, or knick-knack lover would not expect to find a shop selling all of the above open and crowded at 7 p.m. and later. Yet a busy late-night storefront is exactly what such a shopper will soon be able to find in one unconventional new business.

CHS art teacher Christina Vodicka revealed her work on display at Archive, a new bookstore that is soon to be open on the east end of historic Cherokee Street. The event, which took place Jan. 15, was one of several soft openings and included art, drinks, hors d’oeuvres and live piano music.
Mike Pagano, co-owner and events coordinator of Archive, stressed the versatility of the store’s space.
“The room on the west is going to be pretty transformative,” Pagano said. “Tonight we have a piano and the art display, but we really want to have a multifaceted approach. There’s talk of doing local film screenings, having bands, book signings, speakers, even yoga classes here.”
Vodicka has more than a dozen pieces on display at Archive. With all of her duties as a CHS teacher, it can be hard for her to find time to work on her personal career as an artist.
“I try to work more in the summer,” Vodicka said. “I work sometimes in the school year—it comes in spurts. Sometimes I take a class just to have deadlines.”
With such a pastiche of a display area, Vodicka’s art, a series of found-object collage boxes, fits right in. Her ability to pull many apparently unrelated elements compliments Archive’s unusual and eclectic offering of events, settings and objects.
“I selected Chris [Vodicka] as a participant because she was flexible and available,” Pagano said. “But mostly because her art fit in with the area and the rest of the art.”
The co-owners put the event together in three weeks, calling on friends, including Vodicka and artist Jenna Bauer, and a Cherokee local, William Scott, to create the display.
The owners did not originally intend to open a bookstore as they amassed their book collection—they simply needed something to do with the copious amount of reading material they had accumulated.
“The collection was all the other owners’,” Pagano said. “From the collection of books we had amassed, the storefront seemed like a natural convergence.”
With the store not even officially open yet, the owners are trying to balance soft openings such as the art display with preparations for the upcoming grand opening. Big plans are in store for the little shop, as the Archive staff hopes the store will become a place for people to gather in a myriad of different settings within the shop’s space and for Cherokee Street history to reside.  They also hope to stay open later than most Cherokee Street businesses and to sell books, busts and records in as wide a variety as it currently maintains within its ever-shifting abode.