Lara Hammond has traveled the world and lived in lots of places, but she ultimately chose to live in her hometown of Meridian, where she has deep roots.

Lara was born in Meridian in 1967. She came home from the hospital to her mother’s house on 35th Street near what used to be “Little Lamar.” Now, she is back in the same house and running an organic coffee shop in downtown Meridian. But it was a long journey back home.

Lara’s family has been in Meridian for a long time, and some people might remember the businesses that were run by her grandparents — Renfroe Hardware and Hammond Photo Studio.

Lara went to Barbara Henson day care, and then to Lamar Elementary and Lamar High School. She said one of her favorite memories of her childhood in Meridian in the 1970s was going on field trips with her day care to the ice cold Lake Waukaway, a not-so-well known Christian retreat near Vossburg.

In high school, Lara said she was a good student who was obsessive about grades. But as an adult, she chose adventure over college. She lived for a year on the island of St. Croix, then backpacked across Europe by herself for three months. After that, she lived in the New Orleans French Quarter for two years before braving another backpacking excursion by herself — this time to South America.

Looking back, Lara said it’s hard to believe she did all that before she turned 21. “I was in jungles by myself in a little mini-skirt, because that’s what was in at the time,” she said. “There would be guys with machine guns in Colombia checking the buses.”

After seeing the pyramids of South America, Lara moved to San Francisco, where she got a job with a boutique advertising agency. The agency, which represented “green” companies like Rice Dream, “was my first foray into eco-friendly thinking,” she said. “It was a great introduction into advertising and conscious living.”

Eventually, Lara moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in the entertainment industry for a variety of companies, including Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Dick Clark productions.

She was working for Fox when she learned that her mother, Jean “B.J.” Hammond, was in deteriorating health.

“I had promised when I was 18, when I left, that if she ever needed me I’d come back,” she said.

So Lara came back to Meridian to take care of her mom full-time. After 20 years in California, she was a little apprehensive about leaving the lifestyle she had gotten



used to there. But her fears were calmed when she learned about the things that were happening for the arts in downtown Meridian.

After learning about the MSU Riley Center, the indie music scene that is supported by the Meridian Underground Music Exchange, and plans for the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center, Lara said: “I realized that there’s a lot of good things happening in Meridian.”

An idea that she had been nursing in California — to open an eco-friendly coffee shop and bookstore — seemed like a perfect fit for downtown Meridian. She decided to open the store on Front Street and design it to compliment other downtown businesses, especially the MSU Riley Center and the Meridian Underground.

She rented a space from Underground owner Wayne Williams in 2006, but because so much of her time was devoted to her mother, she wasn’t able to open the store until 2008.

Jean Hammond passed away early this year, but Lara has decided to stay in Meridian because of her devotion to Sage Coffee and Books, her love of downtown, and her deep Meridian roots.

Sage Coffee and Books is located at 2304 Front St. It offers organic coffee, tea, espresso, and snacks, and is open from noon to 8 p.m. every day. Sage has a selection of books and local art, and often hosts local musical acts on weekends. You can visit Sage on the web at sagecoffeeandbooks.comcastbiz.net.