Ten Oh! Six is located at 1006 N. Third Street in Midtown Harrisburg. It is owned by artist Julia Mallory as a place for that centers Black culture, creativity, and community through its space, artwork, and events. It is a place where one can find respite by unwinding in a reading nook with a book or get recharged through a vibrant game of spades. Whatever you’re looking for, stop by Ten Oh! Six and check if it has it.
[Editor’s note – some aspects have been cleaned up for clarity.]
Harrisburg Buzz: So, Julia, tell me a little bit about this space, the background, the founding, all of that.
Julia Mallory: So, Ten Oh! Six, I would say represents a culmination of all of the creative lanes that I move in. So, that means the most the longest thing that I’ve ever done creatively is be a poet. um and this this day and era, I ultimately consider myself a storyteller who works in various mediums. And so, that range is from poetry to move an image in filmmaking.
So, Ten Oh! Six is the space where I can let those various modalities thrive, but also a place for me to be able to connect with community in the City of Harrisburg and beyond.
And more succinctly put, Ten Oh! Six is a multi-generational community gathering space.
Harrisburg Buzz: Okay, so multi-generational community gathering, when we talk about community, which community?
Julia Mallory: So when we talk about community, there’s various facets of community that exists within the City of Harrisburg.
I am specifically interested in lifting up the cultural traditions of Black communities in the city, while also learning from other backgrounds, but wanting to have an institution, essentially, where Black folks can come and see themselves represented and connect.
Harrisburg Buzz: So one of the things you just said was that your your longest artistic tradition is as a poet. And I see that, you know, there’s books. So, can people come in and purchase books? Can they purchase artwork? Can they just come and sit? Like, what is the function?
Julia Mallory: So it’s all those things, right? We’re small but mighty, and we’re still in the process of building capacity. People can come in and absolutely purchase either original artwork or prints of artwork.
They can purchase other writers’ books in this space. They can come to, you know, a movie night, they can come and learn how to play spades. There’s a range of activity that folks can engage in at Ten Oh! Six.
Harrisburg Buzz: And one of the things that really piqued my interests were two events that you held here. Read Up, Meetup and the spades event. Can you talk about both of those events and, you know, how you started it?
Julia Mallory: So, Read Up, Meetup is an event that quite honestly was born out of seeing some things that folks enjoy on social media. I’ve been a voracious reader my entire life, even including being a member of a Black woman majority book club for over 10 years. And so, I’ve seen like some other Black spaces and bookstores throughout the country.
They have these events where people can come and bring reading material of their choice and basically be silently in community. A friend had posted it on Facebook.
There was one that was in Atlanta and she posted it and I was like, oh, yeah, Ten Oh! Six was definitely considering doing something like this. And so, I decided to just try it and see the type of motion we could get based on that. The spades workshop, for some reason, I knew that was very important.
I was thinking, what are some of like Black cultural traditions that people always talk about and is very multi-generational. I’ve had my entire family, mom, dad, daughter come, you know? I’ve even had my little cousins come. You know, my two youngest children, who were not initially interested in learning spades, but when this space was open, they were like, ‘Okay, we’ll come. I’ll learn.
Harrisburg Buzz: When I saw the cards, I was like, ‘Yo! You got Queen Latifah as the Queen, Samuel L. Jackson as the Jack.’
Julia Mallory: They literally just supposed to just be just so they would look attractive in my social media promotion. And then people were like, ‘Oh, we love these. We should make more of these and so that’s what I did.
Harrisburg Buzz: How much are the cards?
Julia Mallory: The cards are $15.
Julia Mallory, owner of Ten Oh! Six, sits inside the space which amplifies Black culture and creativity.
Harrisburg Buzz: Okay. Going back to you as an artist, because you’re somebody who I’ve studied, and I just love your artwork. Like, you do it all. You help people with their marketing, you could write a poem, essay…from these multi-disciplines is there one that you would say is the main one when people think of you?
Julia Mallory: You know, a lot of this work also evolves out of having a creative container called Black Mermaids, right? And so, that’s where I published some of my earliest work. So what I found over the years, some people know me as a poet, like when I was out here actively performing. Some folks know me as a children’s book author.
Some folks were never familiar with any of that work, but they know me as a filmmaker. You know, with some people, their entry to my work is me being a collage artist. So, I think for me it’s really hard to pick because I honestly love all of those mediums for various reasons.
I will say I always describe poetry as my first creative love language. And I think when people meet me in those other spaces, they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re absolutely a poet.’ They’re like, ‘I should have known that you were a poet.’
So, I mean, like I said, just using me being a storyteller as the umbrella.
Harrisburg Buzz: Now the name 106 is derived from the address?
Julia Mallory: So, I didn’t want anything that was too hyper specific around what we were doing because we were going to be doing a lot here, so I did not want that to narrow people’s understanding of the space and to be quite frank, I also wanted to honor the work. The work looks different when you are parked at a physical location. So, I wanted to honor that this space is very unique.
Harrisburg Buzz: When you are a literary artist, you could touch so many different things. I remember you posted something on social media a while back, but I use it. You were like sometimes when you show up by yourself and nobody’s with you, you got to act like it’s a million of you, or something like that.
Julia Mallory: I know what I said, I show up like the whole hood is behind me.
Harrisburg Buzz: Is there anything that you would like to add about the space or what you want people to contribute or how people could get involved?
Julia Mallory: You know, if folks are interested in connecting, they should definitely reach out. I’m open to collaborations that really center our community’s voices.
One of the reasons why I also was attracted to opening a space like this is that I know as a creative entrepreneur and as an artist I’ve had lots of ideas that financially just made sense for me to have them in other venues, and so I want to try to remove some of that barrier for other folks who want to do things.
Harrisburg Buzz: Yeah, and I appreciate that as an artist myself. Lastly, what do you expect because you’re always shifting?
Julia Mallory: For Ten Oh! Six, what I’m really interested in is serving as a cultural institution that centers the facets of Black life. And so, for me, that is something that I am also recognizing too, that Ten Oh! Six is also a way of being, and we can take culture wherever we go.
So, there are going to be things that we’re gonna do that are going to expand beyond these walls, right? But the ethos will be the same. Like, the ethos will be, how do we educate? How do we connect?
How do we expand? How do we use our imagination and service to each other? That’s really what I’m trying to do with Ten Oh! Six.
Harrisburg Buzz: Well, thank you. Thank you. This was great!
Interview and photos originally taken in August 18, 2024 by journalist Jamar Thrasher.
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