Tea and cookies… with a skull twist! (Photo – W.K.)
Before any feelings of fear take you away, Death Café organizers encourage community members to keep reading and let curiosity draw them in.
By Rena Kurlander
A Death Café is not a grief support group or a counseling session. Instead, it is a respectful, accessible, and confidential discussion space with no set agenda, objectives, or themes. Participants are free to share thoughts, listen, and reflect. Light refreshments will be served.
The South Pasadena Public Library invites the community to explore open and meaningful conversation around an often-avoided topic with its first-ever Death Café. The event will take place on Friday, February 13, 2026, at 7:00 pm in the Library Community Room at 1115 El Centro Street, South Pasadena, CA 91030.
Hosted and facilitated by Emily Yacina, a musical artist and experienced Death Café facilitator, the evening offers residents a chance to gather and talk openly about death in a welcoming, informal setting. Yacina has led multiple Death Cafés throughout Southern California and brings that experience to South Pasadena as the concept arrives locally after nearly 11 years of Death Café gatherings in neighboring Pasadena.
The most accurate description of a Death Café comes from its creator, Jon Underwood, who explained, “At a Death Café people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. Our objective is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’.”
Since September 2011, Death Cafés have grown rapidly across Europe, North America, and Australasia. More than 28,000 Death Cafés have been held in 97 countries, highlighting both widespread curiosity about conversations on death and the passion of individuals who organize these gatherings. Additional information about the global movement is available at deathcafe.com.
This program is made possible by the support of the Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library. The Library is open Monday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm; and Sunday from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Death Café South Pasadena Friday, February 13 7:00 - 8:00 pm Location South Pasadena Library Library Community Room 1115 El Centro Street South Pasadena, CA 91030 Free
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