pueblo.venice

One of my favorite parts of living in Los Angeles is how wildly different the climate can be from one neighborhood to the next. In Phoenix we had tiny microclimates depending on shade or grass in a yard, but in LA you get everything from desert chaparral to tropical fever dream in a matter of minutes. What you’re seeing in this pic is a simple, yet MASSIVE rubber tree, roots thriving off our foggy and moisture-rich coastal breezes. Venice and Santa Monica have a climate unli...ke any other in LA, especially as you move inland. The air is cleaner, cooler and all around so well adapted to growing tropical plants, indoor and out. These Specimen Ficus trees are at the dog park by our shop. I think a lot of times we see the Ficus in our homes as little stately shrubs, but these ancients (relatively for Venice) have grown into massive Banyan trees ready to take over any potential temples -or chainlink fence- that could be within their canopy line. So if you’re looking for an easy, interesting activity near the coast and off the boardwalk, I’d highly recommend just walking the streets in Venice, looking closely at all the plants in the landscape- and possibly sitting under these massive trees at Westminster Dog Park

As I grow older I’ve been trying to find a casual way to embrace and express myself more fully. Growing up queer in a small town I was taught to hide large parts of myself to keep things simple, safe and easy. I’ve been realizing lately how much of myself and so many other boys were unconsciously learning the same habits and how to hide themselves. This necklace is for the boys (and ladies, they’s and more) who want to express themselves. We’ve been working on carrying more ...inclusive art and pieces from smaller makers and artists, and these pieces were near the top of our list! The last few years we’ve seen heavy focus on female anatomy-oriented art and jewelry, but these pieces really stand out from our standard jewelry. We’re finally carrying these solid bronze necklaces on gold chain from @gilty_boy - a small team of queer artists located in Tucson. Each pendant is a little unique and feels very solid in your hand and hanging from your neck. If these are a little too sexual for you we are also carrying Golden Fig leaves by the same team, all of which are unique. $68-84

This spring our business had its 6th anniversary and we spent it christening a new greenhouse at our Phoenix shop. Coby and I- plus the dog and Cat- peaced out of Phoenix to spend the next few months here fine-tuning our Venice shop and dealing with stocking issues brought about by the pandemic, namely our pottery supply. Is there anything you’d like to see carried at our Venice shop? We’re always looking for new items and figuring out the neighborhood is something that we knew would take time. We’ve been here nearly a year now working on/at the Venice shop and I’m really beginning to feel like we’re in our groove. Next week we’ll finally begin carrying a high quality California-made soil, followed by high quality grow lights and a fair amount of new pottery which should trickle in before the month is out!

Since opening our first Phoenix shop (@pueblo.life ) in 2015, we’ve moved locations 3 times, most recently last November. We spent 2 years renovating a dilapidated Auto-parts warehouse on a wonderful commercial street with a large, more-dilapidated metal Quonset hut out back. Converting it to a warm, bright greenhouse wasn’t easy but we pulled it off the same week we opened our doors. Next week we’ll be finishing up a second greenhouse at our Phoenix site and opening a small... garden coffee shop, which is wonderful news for everyone in downtown Phoenix. Once that happens we’ll be back in Venice focusing on this shop exclusively for summer, with the brainpower and focus we need to really bring this one up to the same standard! Until then, we’re open daily, consistently getting in new and exciting plants, pottery and small goods. We have a few of these massive specimen Philodendrons in stock here in Venice, which are perfect for a large shaded patio, garden or bright room.

It’s our 6th year anniversary since we’ve open our first shop at a small market booth in Downtown Phoenix! We’ve always aimed to not only sell quality botanical specimens, but also offer friendly experience & place. To celebrate we’ve been loading both our Venice and Phoenix locations up with new inventory- everything from self care to quality home goods, on top of simple new pottery and tons of species of plants. We’ve brought in some wonderful glass pieces for beach days, giant airplants for your coastal gardens and really incredible orchids, on top of everything else we normally do. Check out our stories constantly to see what we’re up to. We’re still open daily 10-7 on Main, moving forward everyday and getting better constantly. (Swipe right for really satisfied dog grins)

We’ll be open today and tomorrow for our regular hours: 10-7 I can’t say much about this year other than we’re glad to be open and it’s been so nice seeing people and talking to everyone who stops by. Thanks for a nice first year, Venice

We’ll be open today and tomorrow our regular hours: 10-7 I can’t say much about this year other than we’re glad to be open and it’s been so nice seeing people and talking to everyone who stops by. Thanks for a nice first year, Venice

As we round this final few days into Christmas I’d love to thank everyone who’s come in this last week. It’s been so nice seeing returning customers coming back for both gifts and plants for themselves. If we haven’t said it in person yet, thank you! I’d also love to use this post to introduce both our store manager Maggie and Bennie, our shop dog, formally. Maggie has worked at Pueblo since 2016, originally at our first location in downtown Phoenix. She was a senior in ...high school and helped not only the shop, but everyone working here to be a better, more gracious person. Maggie is a Dreamer, and has overcome every hurdle in her path with grace and kindness. Bennie was s a shelter dog that I adopted while I was working at a government lab in 2012. She was 3 when our first shop opened, but just turned 9 this month and is absolutely OVER it. She’s kind, quiet and all around the longest employee we’ve had, besides myself (Michael). She’s sober, but that doesn’t stop her from having a a good time. Anyway, we’ll be open normal hours (10-7) for the foreseeable future, with a limited capacity, but we will be closed Christmas Day to rest and probably mourn this entire year just a bit. We have a few good gifts left in almost every range, greeting cards, holiday wraps and stocking stuffers are easy to find here now, if you want to shop small in some capacity Stay safe and happy holidays!

This is a pretty spill-all post if you’d like to read about our plans moving forward, re growing, pricing and a looming-stay-at-home order: After a few really intense weeks moving our downtown Phoenix shop, @pueblo.life , we’re back in Venice to settle and work on our shop here. We’d been working on a historic warehouse, greenhouse and large gardens since 2018 there and we FINALLY finished. We opened it one week ago yesterday and the space / pictures are incredible. We’ve... gotten a bit busier this month here in Venice and our seismic-retrofit is over! Meaning we have a TON more space and light to work with, even as our days get shorter. Through the holidays we’ll be expanding our inventory to include more rare plants like giant Nepenthes, better Hoya and tons of lifestyle goods and art, plus these beautiful local bouquets and all our classic pottery and plants. Regarding pricing: we’re working to lower everything 10-20% while restaurants and other businesses close back up. We always pride ourselves on trying to meet the moment, and we’re hoping this helps everyone who stops in and stays in. Lastly, in spring we shut down our shop a few days before there was an official stay-at-home order. We’re (legally) an essential business, but we didn’t want to test our luck w/ Covid and our employees, while also paying everyone a small wage to get through. When we re-opened our original shop we raised everyone’s pay to $15 an hour + tips and put in any precautions we could. Currently in Venice our team is averaging $21 an hour right now, and we’re pretty proud of that. As things get weird again, we reached out to our entire Venice team and asked everyone what they wanted to do: we unanimously agreed to stay open. We would prefer to close, but without government assistance, no one can afford to just stay home. We’ll be sanitizing a bit more and instituting a 10-people capacity limit. Anyway, this isn’t our first rodeo with Covid, holidays or stay-at-home orders, and we’re all just glad to just be working and staying busy. Good luck everyone in the restaurant industry. If anyone wants to pop up a coffee or pastry shop out front we’d love to chat. Thanks

20% off plant sale- today only! We accidentally ordered far too many plants this week, so with everything going on we thought it would be fair to extend this sweet offer. Again, this is an ‘If-it’s-got-soil-sale!’ The sale only covers potted plants, meaning airplants and orchids are still full price.... Open until 7!