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The sounds of espresso shots pouring and milk being steamed filled the air around Sydney Strange as she read a fantasy novel and drank a soda at A Seat at the Table — a queer-owned book and coffee shop that caters to Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ community.
Strange, 22, lives in Fair Oaks. She regularly makes the 30 to 40-minute commute to the Elk Grove business to buy books, enjoy specialty drinks and be with her community.

“Very few places are a bookstore and a coffee shop and have a really fun community,” Strange said during a recent visit. “Right now, with the way the world is, we need that sense of community so much. Even if it wasn’t politically hell, it’s so important to have a good community of like-minded people, and even not like-minded people, to get together, share ideas and bond.”
Strange is also a fan of the shop’s book selections, noting that they carry niche books and genres — including books by local authors and a curated LGBTQI+ section — that cater to her interests.
“As a queer woman, it’s really nice to get a lot of books that are representative of that,” she added. “More diverse books than the commonplace.”
The queer- and family-owned business opened in November 2021 after store owner Emily Autenrieth held several pop-up events at markets and local businesses. Even though she’s been able to form a strong community, she added that the cost of operating a business like this is high.
“We’re getting close to that critical mass of support, but on the whole, it’s been very hard to make ends meet,” she said. “Elk Grove was raised by big box stores. Rent is really high here, so it’s hard to get a footing as a small business.”

The store has created a nonprofit — A Seat At The Table Community Initiative — to help raise funds.
Jasmine Nutt is the nonprofit’s president. She said her organization’s goal is to make sure the business is foundationally secure and to take pressure off the bookstore because it is “doing a lot of work that is in a nonprofit space.”
Nutt added that one of her priorities is to establish the bookstore as a trusted space for diversity, equity and inclusion, which she argued are lacking in the Sacramento region.
“It’s not just this blanket statement of racial equity,” she said. “It’s more than that. It’s different abilities being able to thrive, different needs being able to be accommodated, and it’s a third pace that really functions for everyone. That’s what I think that they’re doing and I think they’re doing a great job.”
As a social worker, Nutt argued that DEI is “probably the biggest burden to carry,” noting that many who are against it have become emboldened under the Trump administration.
“But, this is still Sacramento,” she added. “Sacramento is the place for DEI. It is the place for belonging and it is the place for inclusivity and accessibility.”
Recently, the bookstore experienced targeted harassment during an inclusive event. On occasion, it hosts drag story times in which a drag queen reads a book to kids. Its most recent story time was interrupted by someone who heard about the event online.
Jonathan Lopez, whose stage name is Hellen Heels, was running the event. He said he wasn’t surprised by the incident.

“If anybody does their research, they’ll understand that drag queen story time is a movement in the country, and also just within the drag queen sphere,” he said. “What comes with that, hand in hand, is people who want to protest or people who want to make others feel uncomfortable with being at that site. It’s always one of those things that, unfortunately, we always kind of have to keep in our mind that there are people like that.”
As the protester shouted into the store through a glass window, Lopez said he went into “go mode” and started moving the kids behind a bookcase out of sight of the man.
“He shouted out, ‘That’s a man!’” Lopez recounted. “I don’t think I look like a man, I think I look like a beautiful unicorn.”
Parents grabbed pillows for children to sit on, which Lopez said made it feel like a slumber party.
“I instinctively chose the book, ‘If You Laugh, I’m Starting This Book Over,’” he said. “It’s a book that was intended to make kids laugh out loud and make noises so that it would detract from whatever he was saying on his megaphone.”
He added that eventually, older audience members started to catch on.
“The parents also laughed loud with me, and some of the kids who were a little bit older understood why we were reading the book and were making the noises to get the other kids rallied to make noises,” he said. “It was really beautiful, just to see it all kind of come together like that in that moment.”
Terence Litton attended the event with his wife, Jamie, and 6-year-old daughter, Luna.
“He could have shouted his hateful stuff outside, but when he started recording stuff, that’s when I decided to walk out and stand in front of him,” he said.
Litton said he asked his daughter after the show if she understood what happened.
“She told me, ‘No daddy. I just saw a guy talking really loud in the window, and I walked by and just went to go hear the story,’” Litton said. “She was away from most of that stuff. She just knew that there was a weird guy outside.”
Autenrieth recounted the event saying that the parents and Lopez “were able to shield the kids and shelter them, and it was really this sense of a rainbow of safety.”
She noted that the protester called the adults groomers and pedophiles while telling people to repent.
“He was very intimidating and very scary, and he wouldn’t leave,” she added.
Autenrieth said she was disappointed with how police officers treated the situation when they arrived, noting that one was dismissive of the fact that the protester was recording children, and that another seemingly told the protester in a now-deleted YouTube video that he appreciated him for being there. CapRadio reviewed the footage and confirmed the officer greeted the protester.
Autenrieth had a meeting with Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and Police Chief Bobby Davis last week to discuss the incident and concerns that her community doesn’t feel safe.
“I’m really hoping that we can use this as an opportunity to look at what Elk Grove is doing for its queer community and do better,” Autenrieth said. “I’m not here to take down or cause destruction or anything like that. My goal is to keep our queer communities safe and our allied community safe and our children safe.”
After the call, Autenrieth said Police Chief Davis told her the matter was referred to internal affairs for an investigation into the incident. Davis did not respond to CapRadio’s requests for comment.
Singh-Allen sent CapRadio the following statement in an email:
“We are a beautifully diverse city welcoming to all. I listened to the concerns from A Seat at the Table. I will continue to be an ally and help build bridges in the LGBTQ community.”
“There aren’t very many spaces that hold these, even though it is a great opportunity for children and their families to come together and hear stories that are inclusive,” she said. “It is such a wonderful event and the children love it.”
Jamie Litton explained that her family is from Carmichael and also often make the 30 to 40-minute drive to visit the business.
“The name of the store, I really feel, says it all,” she said. “They definitely put a lot of effort into spotlighting marginalized communities and making sure that people who maybe don’t feel welcome in other spaces feel welcome there.”
One example of this is a “witchy, feminist” book club she started. Although she didn’t expect much interest, over 20 people showed up to their first meeting.
“I think finding community and solidarity for some people is the only comfort that can be found at the moment,” she added. “It’s become incredibly important to keep those places safe and support them.”
The interpretation of what queer spaces mean to the communities they serve is something Lopez believes non-queer people don’t understand.
“It’s important for queer people to have a space that, when they go in, they know automatically that they can let their guard down,” he said. “That they can dress the way they want, they can be the way they want.”
He encouraged more small businesses and spaces in Sacramento to put on drag storytime because they help rally the community and create more safe spaces.
“We would like to see more LGBT, not only owned and operated, but also allyship,” he added. “It helps to normalize the events like this that we do.”
To learn more about A Seat at the Table, including upcoming events, how to rent the space and how to partner with them, visit their website.
The sounds of espresso shots pouring and milk being steamed filled the air around Sydney Strange as she read a fantasy novel and drank a soda at A Seat at the Table — a queer-owned book and coffee shop that caters to Sacramento’s LGBTQ+ community.
Strange, 22, lives in Fair Oaks. She regularly makes the 30 to 40-minute commute to the Elk Grove business to buy books, enjoy specialty drinks and be with her community.

“Very few places are a bookstore and a coffee shop and have a really fun community,” Strange said during a recent visit. “Right now, with the way the world is, we need that sense of community so much. Even if it wasn’t politically hell, it’s so important to have a good community of like-minded people, and even not like-minded people, to get together, share ideas and bond.”
Strange is also a fan of the shop’s book selections, noting that they carry niche books and genres — including books by local authors and a curated LGBTQI+ section — that cater to her interests.
“As a queer woman, it’s really nice to get a lot of books that are representative of that,” she added. “More diverse books than the commonplace.”
The queer- and family-owned business opened in November 2021 after store owner Emily Autenrieth held several pop-up events at markets and local businesses. Even though she’s been able to form a strong community, she added that the cost of operating a business like this is high.
“We’re getting close to that critical mass of support, but on the whole, it’s been very hard to make ends meet,” she said. “Elk Grove was raised by big box stores. Rent is really high here, so it’s hard to get a footing as a small business.”

The store has created a nonprofit — A Seat At The Table Community Initiative — to help raise funds.
Jasmine Nutt is the nonprofit’s president. She said her organization’s goal is to make sure the business is foundationally secure and to take pressure off the bookstore because it is “doing a lot of work that is in a nonprofit space.”
Nutt added that one of her priorities is to establish the bookstore as a trusted space for diversity, equity and inclusion, which she argued are lacking in the Sacramento region.
“It’s not just this blanket statement of racial equity,” she said. “It’s more than that. It’s different abilities being able to thrive, different needs being able to be accommodated, and it’s a third pace that really functions for everyone. That’s what I think that they’re doing and I think they’re doing a great job.”
As a social worker, Nutt argued that DEI is “probably the biggest burden to carry,” noting that many who are against it have become emboldened under the Trump administration.
“But, this is still Sacramento,” she added. “Sacramento is the place for DEI. It is the place for belonging and it is the place for inclusivity and accessibility.”
Recently, the bookstore experienced targeted harassment during an inclusive event. On occasion, it hosts drag story times in which a drag queen reads a book to kids. Its most recent story time was interrupted by someone who heard about the event online.
Drag storytime incident
On Jan. 11, a protester attended a Drag Storytime event at the business with a megaphone to harass the establishment and the parents who brought their children to the family event.Jonathan Lopez, whose stage name is Hellen Heels, was running the event. He said he wasn’t surprised by the incident.

“If anybody does their research, they’ll understand that drag queen story time is a movement in the country, and also just within the drag queen sphere,” he said. “What comes with that, hand in hand, is people who want to protest or people who want to make others feel uncomfortable with being at that site. It’s always one of those things that, unfortunately, we always kind of have to keep in our mind that there are people like that.”
As the protester shouted into the store through a glass window, Lopez said he went into “go mode” and started moving the kids behind a bookcase out of sight of the man.
“He shouted out, ‘That’s a man!’” Lopez recounted. “I don’t think I look like a man, I think I look like a beautiful unicorn.”
Parents grabbed pillows for children to sit on, which Lopez said made it feel like a slumber party.
“I instinctively chose the book, ‘If You Laugh, I’m Starting This Book Over,’” he said. “It’s a book that was intended to make kids laugh out loud and make noises so that it would detract from whatever he was saying on his megaphone.”
He added that eventually, older audience members started to catch on.
“The parents also laughed loud with me, and some of the kids who were a little bit older understood why we were reading the book and were making the noises to get the other kids rallied to make noises,” he said. “It was really beautiful, just to see it all kind of come together like that in that moment.”
Terence Litton attended the event with his wife, Jamie, and 6-year-old daughter, Luna.
“He could have shouted his hateful stuff outside, but when he started recording stuff, that’s when I decided to walk out and stand in front of him,” he said.
Litton said he asked his daughter after the show if she understood what happened.
“She told me, ‘No daddy. I just saw a guy talking really loud in the window, and I walked by and just went to go hear the story,’” Litton said. “She was away from most of that stuff. She just knew that there was a weird guy outside.”
Autenrieth recounted the event saying that the parents and Lopez “were able to shield the kids and shelter them, and it was really this sense of a rainbow of safety.”
She noted that the protester called the adults groomers and pedophiles while telling people to repent.
“He was very intimidating and very scary, and he wouldn’t leave,” she added.
Autenrieth said she was disappointed with how police officers treated the situation when they arrived, noting that one was dismissive of the fact that the protester was recording children, and that another seemingly told the protester in a now-deleted YouTube video that he appreciated him for being there. CapRadio reviewed the footage and confirmed the officer greeted the protester.
Autenrieth had a meeting with Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and Police Chief Bobby Davis last week to discuss the incident and concerns that her community doesn’t feel safe.
“I’m really hoping that we can use this as an opportunity to look at what Elk Grove is doing for its queer community and do better,” Autenrieth said. “I’m not here to take down or cause destruction or anything like that. My goal is to keep our queer communities safe and our allied community safe and our children safe.”
After the call, Autenrieth said Police Chief Davis told her the matter was referred to internal affairs for an investigation into the incident. Davis did not respond to CapRadio’s requests for comment.
Singh-Allen sent CapRadio the following statement in an email:
“We are a beautifully diverse city welcoming to all. I listened to the concerns from A Seat at the Table. I will continue to be an ally and help build bridges in the LGBTQ community.”
The need for queer third places in Sacramento
Meredith Cooper, lead safety volunteer for A Seat at the Table, applauded the business for being a third place for the queer community and hosting inclusive events like drag storytime.“There aren’t very many spaces that hold these, even though it is a great opportunity for children and their families to come together and hear stories that are inclusive,” she said. “It is such a wonderful event and the children love it.”
Jamie Litton explained that her family is from Carmichael and also often make the 30 to 40-minute drive to visit the business.
“The name of the store, I really feel, says it all,” she said. “They definitely put a lot of effort into spotlighting marginalized communities and making sure that people who maybe don’t feel welcome in other spaces feel welcome there.”
One example of this is a “witchy, feminist” book club she started. Although she didn’t expect much interest, over 20 people showed up to their first meeting.
“I think finding community and solidarity for some people is the only comfort that can be found at the moment,” she added. “It’s become incredibly important to keep those places safe and support them.”
The interpretation of what queer spaces mean to the communities they serve is something Lopez believes non-queer people don’t understand.
“It’s important for queer people to have a space that, when they go in, they know automatically that they can let their guard down,” he said. “That they can dress the way they want, they can be the way they want.”
He encouraged more small businesses and spaces in Sacramento to put on drag storytime because they help rally the community and create more safe spaces.
“We would like to see more LGBT, not only owned and operated, but also allyship,” he added. “It helps to normalize the events like this that we do.”
To learn more about A Seat at the Table, including upcoming events, how to rent the space and how to partner with them, visit their website.