Who’s the bully? NoDa artists and popular coffee shop clash over a party’s aftermath

A testy controversy in NoDa involves artists, the popular Smelly Cat Coffeehouse and biting social media posts.

It all began Feb. 9, a Sunday, when a group of muralists known as the Southern Tiger Collective hosted a 900-guest second anniversary party in their warehouse and backyard on North Davidson Street.

In their rush to move on to an after-party, Southern Tiger Collective co-owner Alejandro Herrera said, they left a backyard full of stuff out overnight into Monday — including giant murals, a grill, event tents and a sculpture. “One hundred percent, that is entirely our fault,” said Herrera, who paints under the name Alex DeLarge.

The next morning, Herrera said he woke up to notification of a missed call from Cathy Tuman, owner of Smelly Cat Coffeehouse. Smelly Cat rents warehouse space in the same building as Southern Tiger.

When Herrera went to the warehouse, he said several murals were knocked down and destroyed, a grill was missing, a tiger sculpture was busted apart and tents were broken or vanished.

“It didn’t look like human destruction,” Herrera said. “It looked like a force of nature.”

He filed a police report and estimated there was $9,800 in damage. CMPD said the incident remains under investigation, and no arrests have been made.

The warehouse is where Smelly Cat accepts deliveries, and sits about a half-mile from the popular cafe on E. 36th Street.

Herrera said he called Tuman from the scene, and claims she told him the party goods had gotten in the way of a coffee delivery for that morning. According to Herrera, Tuman said: “Alex, I had to move it. It had to be done. It’s in the way of my delivery.”

Tuman declined to comment on Herrera’s claims.

Southern Tiger later took to social media, plastering its Instagram with photos and video from the scene of the damaged goods.

In a statement to the Observer, Turman said: “Silence is necessary for the police to do their job, and to not bring harm to the other nearby tenants. Those tenants also see the social media bullying occuring (sic) to Smelly Cat and their businesses are much smaller and not able to sustain the onslaught.

“I’ve been in business 14 years and am not intimidated by his sensationalism and bullying. My customers know me and my staff. We are not fazed,” she stated.

Social media reactions

Herrera says Southern Tiger co-owner Dustin Moates left several messages with Tuman, asking her to pay for the goods that were damaged or stolen. After a week with no apologies or payment, Herrera said, he and Moates decided to move their concerns to social media.

There were hundreds of comments from both Southern Tiger supporters and those defending the coffee shop.

“This whole uproar is corny. You have no evidence other than saying she admitted it to you.he said that? Why should I believe that? Bc you say so?” said Kara Perry on Instagram.

“Shame on the person(s) who did this. It’s an act of violence and should have serious repercussions!!” said Kelly Renee on Instagram.

Herrera said the posts weren’t intended to bully anyone, but were a response to Southern Tiger Collective’s feeling bullied by the vandalism.

“I don’t like the hate that’s happening (in the comments) because very little comes of it as a result,” he added.

On Tuesday morning, Herrera posted an invitation to Smelly Cat on Instagram: Apologize and pay for damages, and they’ll paint a mural for Smelly Cat “and have a friendly end to this thing.” Tuman hasn’t responded, he said.

Moving out?

Herrera said Southern Tiger will work to be better neighbors, having parties only on Friday or Saturday nights so as not to have any debris get in the way of weekday deliveries. But they might not have much time for that.

Southern Tiger subleases space on North Davidson Street from Holly D’Amico, owner of Renew Charlotte furniture refinishing company who works in the space next door to Southern Tiger Collective. D’Amico said she had no idea the artists were going to host major events when they both moved into the warehouse in 2017.

D’Amico said city fire inspectors have told her and Southern Tiger leaders that their spaces are permitted to hold up to 30 people. A fire inspector came through on Wednesday to remind Southern Tiger — and D’Amico — of the rules, according to D’Amico.

She said she wants them out because, as the lease holder, she would be liable for what happens at future parties.