There is a whimsical feeling that sweeps over first-time visitors entering
Someday Bakery. Menus are drawn with colored pencils, and the main counter brings to mind a pediatric office as there are enclaves within the front of it filled with anime toys. A winding wooden table with round jagged edges occupies the middle of the space while artwork from a student exhibition their hosting resides on the walls.
“We’re inspired by the nostalgic feelings of childhood. Nostalgia is the connection to emotions,” says Jantae’ Spinks who co-owns the bakery with her boyfriend Sam Trotter.
Sitting high on the bakery's back wall is a large framed
Rolling Stone magazine cover featuring rapper Polo G. Trotter took the photo in 2021 when he worked as an editorial and fashion photographer.
The photo represents both success and rebelliousness as Trotter explains that the magazine issue wasn’t syndicated or published as a normal issue for anyone to purchase, but turned into a “insiders' guide” so only music industry folk could access it and moved to the inside of the magazine because the phrase “Black man winning” was inscribed on the front.
“There were a lot of moments like that in my career,” he says.
Spinks and Trotter’s journey through all things, romance, art, and culinary began in the mid-2010s while attending Cass Tech.Trotter had managed to obtain photography internships with
The Source magazine,
Karmaloop,
Hip-Hop Weekly, and a stint at the Disney Dreamers Academy.
After high school, the couple decided to move to New York to see what kind of life they could create for themselves. Spinks began her modeling career, while Trotter took commercial photography assignments. But after eight months, the couple realized they had bit off more than they could chew and temporarily moved back to Detroit.
“We didn’t really understand actually how to be adults, we had just jumped out there,” Spinks says.
They reset, regrouped, and moved to Los Angeles where they spent the next seven years. Trotter grew as a photographer working with Nike, Fear of God, and Iceberg while Spinks continued her modeling work -- walking for Oscar de la Renta, Telfar, No Sesso and more -- and launching a secondary career as a DJ.
But Trotter admits life in Tinseltown left a lot to be desired and the pause of the pandemic gave them a chance to reevaluate the impact they wanted to make on the world and the kind of lives they wanted to live. Trotter and Spinks decided to turn to the community for inspiration.
“We decided to invite our community out to a local coffee shop in Leimert Park, where we interviewed them on their experience living in America, dealing with police brutality,” Trotter says. “We made donuts and we photographed them. That experience broke a code for us, at that time we were very anxious with everything happening in the world.”
The inner soul-searching prompted Trotter and Spinks to move back to Detroit in 2023 where they looked to build on a new sense of purpose. “At that time we were trying to figure out what our mission was in the face of so much commercialization and that provided an answer. It was a way we could incorporate critical thought in our art making while still making approachable space for folks that looked like us, “ Trotter says.
They began searching for spaces they could use as an interdisciplinary hub for all things creative and culinary. They looked at Rosedale Park and different areas on the westside of Detroit but the North End became the chosen destination.
“We were looking for spaces all around Detroit but when we saw this space it had no walls, it had no lights, and we just fell in love with the story of this block,” says Trotter. “The north end chose us, she wanted us to be here,” adds Spinks.
Someday received a Motor City Match grant of $40,000, which allowed them to furnish their space and the bakery officially opened its doors for business March of 2024. The rotating menu items sound like dishes from a Wolfgang Puck cooking challenge. They range from allium and tree fruit shortbread cookies to a very special treat called TWERK (a brioche milk bun, rolled with seasonal fruit, topped with an icing or glaze and something salty or crunchy).
”If a cinnamon roll and an apple pie had a baby, it would be our TWERK Classic.” Jantae’ adds.
“This is the first time I’ve felt this type of experience living in Detroit. Being able to walk around and see neighbors at the grocery store or the co-op. I always hear ‘hey chef’ when I’m walking around and it feels like we belong,” says Trotter.
Since opening they’ve presented multiple art exhibits, their first, titled ‘
Capitalist Society’ featured “Shadow” by Bumdog Torress(LA Native), “Identity Threat in Colonialism” by Julie Dakwar(Palestine), and “Death and All His Friends” by Esteban Whiteside(DC Based).
The couple hosts a program called, “In Reverence” in which attendees come together to create collages of family loved ones, and collective ancestors who have transitioned. There is also a Supper Club where the couple transforms Someday into an intimate dining experience. This menu includes items such as watermelon tartare, squid ink lasagna with local mushrooms -- and of course the TWERK.
“I create the menus, it's musings, we’re inspired by, and we’ll have some type of surprise entertainment that will walk us through the course,” says Spinks.
Ultimately, Someday is evolving into the kind of space that Trotter and Spinks hoped it would be when he moved back to Detroit. In the months and years to come he hopes to evolve into more intricate aspects of service, collaboration, and creativity.
“We look at ourselves as a creative studio, and this initial brick-and-mortar is a concept where we’re fusing visual and culinary art to craft unique forms of hospitality,” he says.