Written by Sophie Santos SJND ‘27
In the middle of our homey island Alameda, there is a loving and delicious cafe called Blue Dot located on Encinal Ave around the corner from SJND. Lots of people come in every morning for the warm scones and refreshing drinks but barely any of them know about the people and ideas that make up the comforting cafe, which is why I decided to dive into aspects of Blue Dot and share it.
The original and current owners of Blue Dot are James and Megan Hume, who opened Blue Dot 15 years ago in 2008. James and Megan have worked in the restaurant industry for pretty much their whole lives so opening their own cafe was icing on the cake for their careers. When asked why they opened a cafe, James Hume said, “We just wanted to try owning something, working for ourselves instead of working for other people.”1
Most businesses are named after their owner so that the owner can receive recognition and flattery for their work. Not Blue Dot. Blue Dot is named after something much bigger: the Earth.
To be more specific, the name comes from a photo of the Earth taken by NASA’s Voyager I in 1990 called the “Pale Blue Dot.” The photo was of space with a little pale blue dot near the top center which is our home. The owners, James and Megan, were inspired by a famous astronomer named Carl Sagan and his speech about “Pale Blue Dot.” In his speech, Carl Sagan said, “If you look at it you see a dot…That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives.” This was something the owners took to heart, which led them to their cafe name, Blue Dot.
On their website, https://www.bluedotcafeandcoffeebar.com/chef, the owners state, “In coming up with the name for our café we felt this sentiment embodied the environment we want to create. As members of this wonderful community on this wonderful planet, we want everyone to feel welcome and connected. Blue dot is a gathering place. Gathering places are essential to the well-being of neighborhoods and communities…and, by extension…the entire pale blue dot.”
Something that makes Blue Dot the homey place that it is, is the friendly environment surrounding it. The owner, James, said “It’s been really nice to catch so many Alameda kids come visit over the years… We still keep in touch with them and they’ll come back and say hi,” which I think is something really special because knowing your customers is something that is hard for some restaurants and cafes to have, but with Blue Dot it comes easily.
Another thing that makes Blue Dot so homey is the eye-catching art they sell on the walls. The art comes from lots of different people including friends and family of the owners and employees, students from the high school, but mostly people who just come in and ask to hang up their work.
Blue Dot is a very special place with a loving community and gracious workers. “It’s been very special to my wife and I,” James Hume says. Next time you go to Blue Dot, look around at the pretty art, kind community, say hi to the workers, and make sure to appreciate everything that went into making the cafe a community.