photo credit: Bryce Dow-Williamson
(Right) The Lost Church Santa Rosa development director Josh Windmiller, speaking with KRCB's Michelle Marques .

A unique Santa Rosa venue that closed in November 2024 plans to reopen downtown later this year. 

Bryce Dow-Williamson and Josh Windmiller sit down for a chat with KRCB News at a café just a block or two away from the new home for The Santa Rosa Lost Church.

“The Lost Church is what we call a listening parlor,” said operations manager Dow-Williamson. “So, it's a small room that has local traveling bands as well as comedians and other performers where we're able to support local folks and traveling folks in an environment where you can really hear everything.”

Dow-Williamson said their original venue was in the garage of the old Press Democrat building.

Windmiller, who serves as the operation’s development director, said it is a sister theater to the original Lost Church in San Francisco.

“The very first Lost Church was in San Francisco, at a home on Capp Street in the Mission,” Windmiller said. “And it has kept that vibe, that warmth, the feeling like you're gathering with an actual group of people, not just a bunch of ticket buyers. We really focus on warm lighting, beautiful paintings, and beautiful art on the walls. Our founders have said it's kind of a Disney's Haunted Mansion of small venues kind of vibe there. It's very interesting. There's little curios around and stuff like that.”

Windmiller explained the journey of The Santa Rosa Lost Church hasn't been easy.

“It has been a really bumpy ride,” Windmiller said. “And it's not a new story in Santa Rosa or the North Bay. We have had plenty of places—small places like what we do, which really serves the grassroots—get shut down for various reasons. It's difficult and expensive to make these things happen and the margins for keeping the business going are quite slim.”

Challenges included navigating COVID-19 closures and unexpected permitting issues. But the community rallied around The Santa Rosa Lost Church, helping them secure a new location, said Windmiller.

“It is a real testament to the community, to Lost Church's mission, and to our methods that we were able to be closed for this long and now we are still able to reopen,” Windmiller said. “We would have been gone if we didn't have this great community behind us.”

The new location is at 545 Mendocino Avenue in downtown Santa Rosa, part of the Glaser Center. The partners said financing has come from donations, as well as grant money and corporate sponsorship.

Dow-Williamson says the new location is an upgrade.

.“Yeah, we’re really excited,” Dow-Williamson said. “It's going to be big steps for us to have four walls and two bathrooms. That's one more of each of those than we had last time.”

Dow-Williamson said besides the unique experience patrons get at The Lost Church, it is also an incubator to help others get into the industry.

“I've been able to work with the Santa Rosa Junior College and a variety of other local young people who always wanted to get into the business and learn how to do sound or just how to get into this wild industry and have something that feels safe and approachable. Especially for queer folks, especially for people of color, because that's not easy for a lot of venues to be able to offer.”

The partners say they aim to open The Lost Church’s doors in November.  Despite the hurdles, Windmiller said he has optimism for the future.

“I feel like we're really at the beginning of something long-lasting that is can really change the cultural landscape up here,” Windmiller said. 

A benefit concert is planned for September 14, 2025 in Sebastopol to further support the move.