The Clay School is Featured in the Lynn Item

LIMITLESS OPTIONS AT PINKHAM BUILDING

LYNN — A walk through the three stories of the historic Lydia Pinkham Building can open up a number of opportunities, whether you’re looking for something new or picking up an old hobby.

Established in 1886, the Lydia Pinkham building was home to the production of Pinkham’s herbal and alcohol-enhanced tonics that led her to become one of the country’s most famous women in the late 19th century. 

She began making the tonic in her Lynn basement and distributed it free of charge. When the demand for the tonic increased, Pinkham went commercial and eventually built a factory, the current Lydia Pinkham building, next to her house. 

Her tonic included essences of unicorn root, life root, black cohosh, pleurisy root and fenugreek seeds, and were supplemented with about 18 percent of alcohol. 

Irene Axelrod, historian and secretary of the Board of Trustees at The House of Seven Gables in Salem, said Pinkham was the first American woman to have her picture on her product and that was how she first became famous. 

Pinkham was in the business of helping women in distress, selling the tonic to pharmacies in New York City. Ironically, the Lydia Pinkham Building is now filled with a variety of female-owned businesses. 

The journey through the building can begin on the first floor in Suite 101, which has housed the female-owned business Limitless Fitness for three years. Owned by Pamela Sargent — who is also a trainer — this gym offers a place for people to both train and work together in small groups and focus on themselves in one-on-one training. 

Sargent said she was looking for a location for her gym for more than a year before she fell in love with the space at the Pinkham building. 

“When I saw the space, it just looked perfect for what I wanted to do. With the industrial ceilings and the big windows, it just felt perfect,” Sargent said. 

She now has five trainers and about 100 members between this location and a new one in Revere. 

She referred to her gym and the building as a community, mentioning how all of the Limitless Fitness apparel is from Inbound Ink, another female-owned business in the building. 

(The Soul City yoga studio on the second floor also partners with Inbound Ink for their apparel). 

When the pandemic is over, Sargent hopes to expand her partnership with other business owners in the building by offering some kind of post-workout snacks and drinks across the hall at Uncommon Feasts. As for now, she encourages people to take a walk through the halls to check out all of the businesses and opportunities, and invites people to sign up to join her for a class. 

If fitness doesn’t seem enticing and the arts are more of an interest, the Lydia Pinkham Building has options in that category as well. The Clay School is one of the longest-lasting businesses in the building — opening in 2005 —  and offers a space for creative minds interested in pottery.

Located in Suite 316, owner Kirsten Bassion said some people have been coming to The Clay School for more than 15 years because they love the sense of community and the ever-changing growth and mystery that accompanies making pottery. 

The process of creating pottery takes a minimum of eight weeks with the drying, trimming, glazing, use of the kiln (a hot chamber that hardens the clay), and painting, so Bassion offers a variety of 10 classes for adults and two classes for kids per week that fit this schedule. For experts not in need of lessons, memberships can be purchased to use the studio whenever. 

“We keep ourselves open 24/7 so people who come to class, or are here as artists in residence, can come and work whenever they want,” Bassion said. 

Patty Hogan, a nurse at Salem Hospital, has been attending The Clay School for more than 10 years and said she loves being challenged by the variety of work available. 

“There’s so much to do and so much to learn,” she said. “Even after a decade, I still have things to learn. It never gets boring. There’s always different projects.” 

Bassion said the strongest part of the studio is the community, saying that everyone is growing and welcoming and offers a space for support and relaxation, even hosting frequent potlucks and parties before the pandemic. 

“It really takes your focus in a different state of mind. It’s a nice, calming stress reliever. It’s very therapeutic,” said Hogan. 

Steve Upton picked up this hobby when he retired as the business administrator for the Lynn Public Schools and said he goes to The Clay School two or three times a week. 

“I love it,” he said. “It’s soothing, but you come here and you’re challenged, because it’s not easy.” 

Going down one level to the second floor, the elegant sounds of the piano can be heard coming from the North Shore Piano Studio located in Suite 216. Brad Alderman, the owner and piano teacher, has created a space full of plants, instruments, dangling lights and photographs to offer a comfortable and welcoming environment for his students, which range from age 4 to 84. 

“There weren’t many musicians here and very few piano teachers in Lynn, so I figured I would be a nice addition,” he said. “I thought it would be a perfect environment here with all of the artists.” 

Alderman spent time in a band, living in New York and traveling for performances before he decided to settle down in Lynn and open his own business three years ago. 

“Initially, this was going to be my own workspace and I was going to teach lessons on the side,” he said. “But then it just grew.” 

Alderman said piano is a deep art form for him, and a never-ending hobby to study and improve. He said that nowadays he loves to teach when not creating his own music. 

“It’s something that’s very interesting and satisfying to watch a kid grow up and learn music, and then I can be a part of their life when they’re older,” he said. 

With one-on-one meetings each week, Alderman said piano offers a unique teacher-student relationship and he encouraged people to give the instrument a try.