<p>When it comes to putting on a great event, the three things that matter most are location, location and, of course, location.</p><p>That's conventional wisdom. But nobody said the location had to be permanent.</p><p>All across Sonoma County, chefs, artists, actors and musicians are experimenting with temporary and sometimes unconventional sites for their happenings.</p><p>Some are true "pop-ups," with the events unannounced and the location used only once. Invitations often are issued by email to a select list patrons of previous events.</p><p>"A pop-up, for me, is a one-time shot where the menu will never be the same again," said chef John Lyle, who has served high-class, multi-course dinners at local farms and even the landmark home of legendary Santa Rosa horticulturist Luther Burbank.</p><p>"We open for one evening, and just like fog in the morning, we disappear as the sun rises," Lyle said. "It gives us freedom."</p><p>Chef Maria Vieages, who moved west from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and her partner, Aaron Hakeem, specialize in one-night-only dinners in eateries that are run by others and normally closed in the evening.</p><p>On April 7, they plan to combine her cajun and creole dishes with Hakeem's Lebanese fare for a special menu at Don Taylor's Omelette Express in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square.</p><p>Despite the hard work of setting up, serving, clearing up and moving out — all in one night — some chefs enjoy being liberated from the grinding routine of running a permanent eating establishment.</p><p>"You get to play restaurant, as opposed to being married to a restaurant," Vieages said.</p><p>Other operations have a permanent public site, but hit the road when the mood strikes.</p><p>The Imaginists Theatre Collective has its own theater in Santa Rosa's A Street arts district. But several years ago, the troupe started performing every summer in local parks, traveling by bicycle.</p><p>"That has grown into a program where we ride to free-lunch sites, hosted by the Redwood Empire Food Bank through the summer, for families that can't afford food," said Imaginists Executive Director Brent Lindsay.</p><p>"We ride up and surprise the kids," Lindsay said. "That's a lot of fun. We're taking theater out there where there isn't any theater."</p><p>Sometimes, closures forced by a difficult economy create new opportunities for creativity. After financial woes led to the closure of the Sonoma County Repertory Company in downtown Sebastopol, theater companies across the county formed an alliance, led by Elizabeth Craven and Keith Baker, to use the space.</p><p>Now named Main Stage West, the theater hosts traveling productions by other local companies, including Lindsay's Imaginists.</p><p>"We use the smaller towns in Sonoma County almost like touring stops, because not everybody from Petaluma would travel to Sebastopol, or vice versa, to see a show," Lindsay said. "So we go to them."</p><p>Last year, in an effort to fill vacant spaces in developer Orrin Thiessen's struggling Town Green Village in Windsor, spaces were made available to the Windsor Arts Council for "phantom galleries," where local artists can exhibit their work.</p><p>Recently, the number of gallery spaces available to the arts council dipped from five to two, but the group hopes to add other spots, said board member Mary Jackson.</p><p>Last year, the Sonoma Valley Museum of the Arts in downtown Sonoma staged a story-telling event for families in a nearby glass-blowing studio.</p><p>"Everybody came in their pajamas, both kids and adults," said Kate Eilertsen, the museum's executive director. "Young people are the hardest group to get into the museum, so we're doing things off-site."</p><p>On the music front, Josh Stithem's North Bay Hootenanny has staged concerts at Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square and the Arlene Francis Center in Railroad Square, as well as weekly Wednesday-night shows at the Last Day Saloon.</p><p>Even movies have gone mobile. Since Ky Boyd's Rialto Cinemas lost the lease on its Summerfield Road venue in Santa Rosa in 2010, he has continued with "Rialto on the Road" screenings at the 6th Street Playhouse live theater space in Railroad Square.</p><p>He also produces big-screen presentations of simulcast fine-arts events, both at 6th Street and, in collaboration with the Jewish Community Center, in the Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School.</p><p>While Boyd concedes a mobile operation is more work, a side benefit is close rapport with his audience. The "Save Rialto Cinemas" Facebook page has 4,000 fans.</p><p>"We have to reach out to the audience," he said, "but the public wants more."</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. See his ARTS blog at http://arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.</p>
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