Collective Santa Cruz’s Social Club promotes pop-up culture with new website

A lot can happen in two years. For example, two years ago, Collective Santa Cruz was a pop-up clothing shop selling custom apparel on East Cliff Drive. Within a year, it grew into one of the most prolific event companies in Santa Cruz County. Since launching at the end of 2021, it has hosted 21 events at 11 different venues and attracted hundreds of people to its themed gatherings filled with small local food and drink vendors and artists. On the way, it also took on the roles of a marketing company, social media influencer and bartending pop-up. 

Now, Collective Santa Cruz is building on its reputation as a community advocate and spreader of good vibes with the launch of a new online platform, Collective Social Club. The website, which is free to use, launched Thursday, and features a calendar of pop-up events in the Santa Cruz area and a page for local entrepreneurs to share information about themselves and their businesses. 

“We are now moving into next year and thinking of ways we can harness all of these connections that we’ve made and the massive network that we’ve built,” says co-founder Kendall Denike. 

The focus on pop-ups makes sense for Collective Santa Cruz. Founders Jalen Horne and Denike, both Santa Cruz natives and childhood friends, say they have worked with almost 200 pop-ups and small vendors over the past two years through their events. 

Pop-up businesses don’t have brick-and-mortar locations; instead, they “pop up” at different venues like a brewery, winery or event, offering everything from vintage clothing to fresh flowers to coffee. Some of the best food in the county can be found at pop-ups, like Pizza Bones’ Neapolitan-ish pizza, SC Bread Boy’s smash burgers and Yakitori Toriman’s grilled Japanese skewers. 

These micro-businesses, typically run by one or two people, frequently use Instagram to let customers know where they’ll be. But, even for diligent social media users, it can be difficult to know when and where to show up.

Collective Social Club aims to solve that. “We realized that we’re so plugged into the pop-up culture that’s happening around town. And a lot of other online event calendars from other companies don’t necessarily include those types of events,” says Denike, a web developer by day. “With Collective Social Club, we will be promoting and highlighting these pop-up-style events in town, and giving vendors a platform as well.” 

Horne and Denike believe that the vendors they work with will be motivated to use the page because of its targeted approach, and because Collective Social Club content will be shared with Collective Santa Cruz’s more than 7,000 Instagram followers. 

“This brings that need to what we already do, and moves us from solely promoting our events into promoting everybody. It’s the most organic way to do both,” says Horne. 

Despite its growth and popularity, the founders say Collective Santa Cruz is not a money-making venture for Horne and Denike, both of whom work full-time at other jobs. Most of the events are free, and the funds from ticketed events are put toward entertainment, they say. “It’s not a money grab, but it’s fun to bring in money so we can do more amplified stuff for people,” says Horne.

Along the way, Denike and Horne say they’re learning what works and doesn’t work as Collective Santa Cruz continues to evolve and grow. 

“I wouldn’t say there’s one overall goal, except to bring people together, whether it’s to a platform or a sticker or an event or T-shirt,” says Horn. “People ask us, what’s the next phase? What are you doing? We’re always trying to find creative ways to stay engaged, and hopefully grow a larger following.”

Find more information at collectivesocialclub.com.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.