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THE makers
creative awareness | arts & culture | makers’ movement
Lather & Fizz Bath Boutique TA H O E M A D E B AT H , B O DY P R O D U C T S BY KAYLA ANDERSON
Michelle Gordon assembles gift packs for Valentine’s Day. | Courtesy Sue Waters Sue Waters cuts soap. | Courtesy Sue Waters
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n a sunny winter morning, I walk upstairs to the second story of Cobblestone Center in Tahoe City and enter the bright, sweet-smelling, decadent space of Lather & Fizz Bath Boutique. Owner Sue Waters with her youthful-looking skin — no doubt from her using of her own products — and energetic spirit welcomes me. She relates to me how she came to move into this new spot with its vaulted ceiling, spacious atmosphere and prime view of Lake Tahoe. When Covid came along, Waters and her business partner Michelle Gordon had to renew their lease during a time when they didn’t even know if they’d be open by summer. They consolidated their business by moving upstairs to a place they used primarily for storage and it worked. They were able to stay in a new location that’s about 400 feet away from the old one. “Now having this upstairs open space, I think people feel more comfortable coming up here while the pandemic is still going on,” Waters says. “I’m glad to be able to wrangle it all in and cut down on rent this way. And with a lack of employees, I can fill web orders, run the front counter, do all of my work from here.” Lather & Fizz also has a location in the Village at Palisades Tahoe that has been around for 20 years, which Gordon manages. However, the history of Lather & Fizz started when Waters bought into a franchise called Splash Bath & Body based 18
in Hermosa Beach. The franchise had seven stores in California and within a year Waters became a partner in the business. Shortly after, she opened a Splash Bath & Body store in the Village at Palisades Tahoe. “My landlord was Intrawest and they were just starting to plan out the Village,” she says. “At the time it was all mom-and-pop stores and we didn’t know if we were going to make it. We did a lot of home parties to keep things going.”
I went home and used the cocoa butter/ hibiscus “P.S. I Love You” massage bar on my dry, winter skin. Within moments, I felt my hands silken as the sweet, soft aroma filled the air. “[The location] is just under 600 square feet but it’s a powerhouse. I remember little girls who came in and now they’re in college or about to get married,” she says. Eventually her four other business partners left to pursue other interests and Waters kept the store in the Village. It was the last of the franchise. She
Paul Hamill
then met Gordon who brought her own creativity and strong work ethic into the mix. She credits Gordon for a lot of their growth, for keeping the business alive and using her creativity to come up with the shower vapors and Tahoe Blue scent. “She’s such a hard worker, so good at sales and she’s so creative. We work well together; she’s like my sister. And people go to Palisades Tahoe just to visit with Michelle,” Waters says. The Palisades Tahoe store was the first in the franchise to start selling pajamas, too. “We needed a high-ticket item so I made my first order of eight pairs of BedHead Pajamas that retail for $145 apiece and I was a little nervous about that. My first sale the first day I had them was to James Hetfield of Metallica. He got these flannel kitty pajamas for his wife, a bath bomb for himself and used the black AmEx card that said ‘Metallica, Inc.’ on it,” Waters says. “BedHead became an Oprah’s favorite as well, so that helped promote them. The pajamas fit well with this store because you take a bath and then want to slip into something cozy, right?” When Splash Body & Bath folded, Waters rebranded to Lather & Fizz based off the name of a gift set they offered and now the two stores have become a Tahoe staple. “I think coming here is people’s part of coming to Tahoe,” Waters says. Waters makes the massage bars, soap, lotion and bubble bath, which she says is her favorite part of her job. The two women are always innovating, too, with products such as the Claytime Complexion Soap, perfect for teenage skin or breakouts. The “P.S. I Love You” Collection began as special product for Valentine’s Day, but they loved it so much that they kept it year-round. Leaving Lather & Fizz armed with five distinct kinds of soaps, I went home and used the cocoa butter/hibiscus “P.S. I Love You” massage bar on my dry, winter skin. Within moments, I felt my hands silken as the sweet, soft aroma filled the air. Lather & Fizz Bath Boutique products can also be ordered online. | latherandfizz.com n
TRUCKEE LOVE IN 3 MINUTES “A Love Letter to Truckee,” a 3-minute visual expression of what makes Truckee special by Truckee filmmaker and photographer Paul Hamill is a finalist in the 2021 Film Stream Award Festival. Hamill filmed and edited the video; Scott Mortimore wrote the script and Dan Dather narrated. The video highlights the year-round recreational opportunities in the Truckee area. “A Love Letter to Truckee” can be seen on Hamill’s website and on YouTube. | paulhamillphotography.com
Piper Johnson
JOHNSON, PAGANELLIA WORK ON DISPLAY Mountain Workspace in Incline Village, Nev., is now featuring the Mountain Workspace Art Gallery with the work by artists Monika Piper Johnson and Liz Paganelli on display in March and April. Johnson is an award-winning painter living in Truckee. Her abstracts, done in acrylic with several unique tools, create her signature woven textile texture. She calls her art ambient and strives to replicate several variations of natural light by using highly reflective paints. Paganelli’s latest body of work, “Into the Forest,” captures scenes of trees and forest from the Lake Tahoe landscape. This group of realistic pen and ink drawings portrays the essence of Paganelli’s surroundings. She is a linear artist concerned with the ways lines interact and how the juxtaposition of
