Erica Cunningham created, maintains and promotes ComeUnity, which is held the first Saturday of every month at 6 Degrees. The basic philosophy of the nine-month old club is “the trinity of club culture,” which incorporates music, food and art. The event outlines different guest DJs each month and a different menu (dessert included), as well as drink specials, a rock and tile-painting bar and a “food for thought” knowledge bar.

“A byline that really resonates with me,” Cunningham says “is ‘she gotta dance, he gotta eat and I gotta paint,’ or any twisting of ‘he,’ ‘she’ and ‘I’ and eating, dancing, painting. Let’s do it all together.”

This means that a lot of different personalities and tastes can hang out in the same venue, and all have an equally good time.

“That is one of the things I love most,” says Cunningham. “It’s a complete juxtaposition of clientele there. People at the tile painting area — seemingly dissimilar or unlike — people who wouldn’t be communicating if they were standing in line to get a drink, now they’re talking because they’re painting. That is really, really cool.”

ComeUnity started last May out of Cunningham’s desire to have a more enjoyable clubbing experience. She loves house music and loves to dance, but did not find the ideal mix of club elements she sought in any San Diego venues. So she started her own.

“It was a thought that maybe I could do [ComeUnity] for a few months, and now I’m looking at it as maybe I can do it for a few years,” says Cunningham.

ComeUnity is also a venue to expand Yum3, Cunningham’s in-home dining business, which she started in October 2002. The company features a particular type of catering called “in-home dining,” which combines elements used by personal chefs and by catering companies.

“I took (those) principles and morphed them into my own, which is going into the house for a dinner party for one evening,” says Cunningham, “like, come to your house, cook in your kitchen with your stuff, serve it to you and your guests, then clean up and go.”

The next ComeUnity will be held Saturday, Feb. 7, from 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Cover is $5, including free rocks and tiles to paint and take home. A full meal (famous rum cake included) is $7, and there are $3 martinis all night. Check it out.