Photo Credit: Breonny Lee
BY Taylor Adams Cogan
While most people know Three Links is a destination for live music, people in the neighborhood know the spot is more than that, offering a third space for drinks, art, and community. And that’s due, in part, to Kaia Bellanca.
Kaia grew up spending time in Deep Ellum, slipping into Galaxy Club and the Church when she was a teenager. Her mom and stepdad even moved to Deep Ellum not long after Kaia and her brother graduated from high school.
“My parents used to bring me down here to eat at Maracas and Pepe’s & Mito’s. I’ve always had a big love for the neighborhood,” she says. “Even when I was living in Denton or Plano or wherever, we always had one foot in.”
In 2013, Kaia helped open Three Links alongside her husband, Scott Beggs, and a couple of other partners. For the next 10 years, she helped run the place – a punk rock heart beating on Elm Street.
“Scott and I were kind of like the mom and dad there,” she says. “It made me happy being able to show support. It ended up kind of being our old friends from high school, their kids and stuff, bringing them into the neighborhood and stuff like that.”
Eventually, she and Scott stepped back.
“I miss being there, but 10 years is a long time, and the burnout is real. It makes me happy that Scott’s doing bigger shows again. It’s weird having our baby out there without us – but I’m stoked that it’s moving on to another chapter. It’s in good hands, and we’re happy to have a more peaceful life.”
That more peaceful life is the result of working through herself, finding space to pursue her own creative work after the COVID-19 pandemic turned her life upside down.
“I had a really long creative block after lockdown. Mental health stuff, burnout – it all caught up. But once I stepped away from the club and didn’t have a structured schedule, it all started to come back. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m creative again.’”
These days, Kaia’s freelancing – doing commissions, album covers, and projects for the neighborhood.
“I love making things that make me happy, and if they happen to sell, that’s awesome,” she says.
She’s also back in retail, part-time at Everything Ellum.
“I told myself I’d never do retail again, but it’s a completely different experience than working Sephora,” she says. “I get to support local artists. It feels good.”
Kaia’s proud of the creative spirit still alive in Deep Ellum, and she’s hopeful for its future, even as outside money and new developments come in, finding their way of complementing the historic charm.
“I’m seeing, today, a lot of bigger money come in,” she says. “We’ve already seen it being diluted a bit, but I’m really hoping that over the next 10 years, we’ll see people try to preserve the art and music and where it came from, honestly, without it getting too sterilized.
“I feel like a lot of us are still holding on, it’s still for the people and for what we bring to it.”
High-rises have brought more residents who can spend all their time in the neighborhood, if they want. They bring more people and support to businesses, and along with them comes evolution, says Kaia, who can look across Elm Street from her shop window.
“It’s strange, standing outside of the store and looking across the street: Well, that used to be a club, that was a club, that linked to a club,” she says. “I love restaurants, but it’s a lot different, and it’s always going to be different.”
Kaia remembers the early 2000s, going to shows without social media, when everything felt “a little wilder.” And she’s encouraged by what she sees now.
“The kids are keeping the scene alive. At rock shows and hip-hop shows, teenagers are showing up, buying t-shirts, supporting the bands. As long as the kids are here, it’s going to be OK,” she says. “I want to see what the future holds. Let the young ones lead. I’m here to support them.”
Kaia’s still creating – mixed-media collage pieces that are raw, layered, and intentionally unpolished, much like the neighborhood she loves.
“I don’t know what genre you’d call it. I’ve always liked just scrapping through and finding images that call to me, I’ve always kind of liked cut and paste,” she says.
And if there’s one thing she hopes people take seriously, it’s this:
“People need to freaking vote. Locally. If you want to see changes in your neighborhood and your city, vote. It’s not just up to business owners,” she says. “The policies that go through city hall impact everything.”
