From left, STEAM Lab Co-Owners Lisabeth Lueninghoener and JoLynn Baily and Samizdat Bookstore Owner Jill Lang stand in the space shared by the two businesses at 174 Central Park Square. The typewriter in front of them is a huge hit with younger customers. Lang said they will type out stories, poems or just sentences. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Samizdat Bookstore and STEAM Lab joined forces in February and opened a shared space at 174 Central Park Square.
Jill Lang, owner of Samizdat Bookstore, and Lisabeth Lueninghoener, STEAM Lab co-founder, agree it is a perfect match. The two women have known each other for years and live in the same neighborhood. Their businesses also complement each other.
“There’s just a lot of overlap in the kind of space we share,” Lueninghoener said.
“We also have shared interests,” Lang said.
For instance, Lueninghoener said, “There’s a shared interest in bringing the community together.”
One of the ways Lang and Lueninghoener have worked to bring the community together is through co-hosting events. Their First Annual Great Crypto Hunt concluded April 10. The hunt kicked off March 26 and attracted 11 teams and 40-50 participants. Teams learned to use a mathematical replica of an Enigma Machine, which was a WWII-era German encryption device, to decode clues and lead them to a series of locations. At the end, teams received a passphrase, which Lang and Lueninghoener said was “the worst Dad’s joke ever” generated by the folks at the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, to unlock the second phase of the event – a County-wide scavenger hunt.
The top three teams earned prizes, which included Chamber bucks, and the top team also received a wooden Enigma cryptography device. It seems the whole town got in on the fun – from the Chamber of Commerce providing the Chamber Bucks to the Bradbury Science Museum recording clues in the style of a 1940s radio ad.
Lang said the whole idea was inspired by wooden puzzles she was selling at the store that were modeled after the Enigma Machine.
“It just kind of grew from here,” she said. “It seemed like a natural project to do together.”
Lang and Lueninghoener are hoping to continue the fun with David Bowie’s 100 Favorite Books. The event is being planned for the summer and the hope is to include costumes and a karaoke machine.
“We want to build as much collaboration as possible and become a community institution,” Lueninghoener said.
Sharing a space also is an opportunity to help the businesses out. Lueninghoener pointed out that if anyone comes in to check out one of the businesses, they may be interested in looking into the other.
“Anyone who comes in for one of our businesses sees the other,” she said. “It increases the visibility of both our businesses.”
Samizdat Bookstore and STEAM Lab are relatively new to town. Samizdat Bookstore got its start in November 2021 as part of the Chamber of Commerce and Los Alamos MainStreet’s Retail Accelerator Program. Lang said because of that program, she was able to transition into a permanent space.
She said she wanted to open the bookstore because “I’m tired of living in a town that doesn’t have a bookstore.”
The previous bookstore, Otowi Station Bookstore and Science Museum Shop, owned by Peggy Durbin and Michele Vochosky, closed in 2012. Lang said Durbin and Vochosky have been incredibly supportive and helpful in getting her store open. In fact, they even donated some of Otowi’s old display cases to Samizdat.
Lang said she subleases her space from STEAM Lab. STEAM Lab, which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math, was founded in 2019, Lueninghoener said. It moved to virtual operations during the pandemic and returned to in person this year.
They offer programs for anyone from pre-K to adult. Tutoring also is offered along with several clubs including coding and an art club. Enrollment is open for a summer camp that begins in June. The camp is available to elementary-age students but there are opportunities for middle schoolers to train as counselors and employment opportunities for high school students, Lueninghoener said.
She explained her children inspired her to start the business.
“I wanted a place where my kids could learn to tinker, experiment without the stress and expectation of being experts,” Lueninghoener said.
At STEAM Lab, children are free to explore their interests.
“That’s a really large part of what we are,” she said. “We give them the tools and the knowledge to explore the areas they are interested in and in the way that interests them.”
Both Lang and Lueninghoener said they find running a business fulfilling.
Lueninghoener said her favorite thing about being a business owner is “when I see something that needs to be fixed, I have an avenue to fix it.”
This can include having tutoring services for students who need help or offering an all-ages social space for board game nights.
JoLynn Baily, co-owner of STEAM Lab, said they also give high schoolers employment opportunities, which is significant since for many it is their first job.
“They get that experience in a safe environment,” she said.
For Lang, interacting with people is a perk of owning a business.
“It’s just great to meet people as they come in and talk to people,” she said.
To find out more about STEAM Lab, visit https://lasteamlab.com/
Samizdat Bookstore is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday. It is closed Wednesday. The store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.
The team that earned first place in STEAM Lab’s and Samizdat Bookstore’s First Annual Great Crypto Hunt hold up their prizes: $50 in Chamber Bucks and a Enigma cryptography device. Team members were back row: Maxton and Kristi Lamborn; front row: Clara and Hyrun Lamborn. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
From left, STEAM Lab Co-Owners Lisabeth Lueninghoener and JoLynn Baily and Samizdat Bookstore Owner Jill Lang. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
