It’s #facesoftahoecity Friday! Meet Siig Steven“Siig” & Melissa Vinitsky Siig, husband, wife & owners/operators of the Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema.
Siig and Melissa grew up in many towns (Virginia City, Reno, Marin) and, coincidentally, they both attended high school in Marin County. Melissa continued studies in International Relations & Arab Studies at UC Santa Barbara and Washington DC’sGeorgetown University and Siig in Political Science/Humanities at Sierra Nevada College, Lake Tahoe.
After many years on opposite sides of the country, Melissa settled in North Lake Tahoe and soon became a reporter for the “Tahoe World” local newspaper (known today as Sierra Sun-North Lake Tahoe Bonanza). As fate had it, her first story assignment was an interview with an action sports movie director (and famous “extra” in Steven Spielberg’s 1987 Empire of the Sun) – Siig! The story was just their beginning.
Like true Tahoe locals, these two worked long hours in journalism, film & landscape design, but Siig’s dream of opening a theater became a reality when The Cobblestone Center Cinema was available from the Hauserman family in 2014. Siig and Melissa opened the Art Haus, with partner Mark Gogolewski, in September 2014 and new life was brought back to Tahoe City.
Life at the Art Haus allows the Siig family a creative outlet to run a business that makes people happy, an opportunity to work with an incredible team of employees & a place to provide a cultural hub (and really good BEER) to the community. The husband and wife team LOVE working together, 95 percent of the time!
When not working, you can find them hiking, eating at Wolfdale’s or Zia Lina, enjoying a Friday night beer at Bridgetender Tavern And Grill, prepping forBurning Man (4-time attendees) or just hanging with their three kiddos Kaiden, Kaya, Nakita…and dog too.
Check out the Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema for an exciting variety of upcoming events – including blockbuster & independent films (Bad Moms, Captain Fantastic, Racing Extinction); TEDx Tahoe City; winter ski & snowboard action films with local celebrities & speakers; and a 3-day Halloween spectacular, Oct. 28-30 with the music of Fortress,Bass Tribe Tahoe & Sneaky Creatures + Tahoe Flow Artists.
The sky is the limit for the “mom & pop” Art Haus, currently in early talks with Truckee Railyard Project developer to potentially expand and open 3-4 screens. But in the words of Siig, “Tahoe City, a community that welcomed us with open arms, will always be our mother-ship”.