I hope the coffee shop list below provides you with the same fun and opportunities to get the creative juices flowing as they provided to me. These coffee shop writing excursions have taken me all over LA including going over San
Francisco-style hills in Silverlake, through
communities oozing money, and others desperately poor. If you have any suggestions on shops I should visit in November please add in comments.
Here is a quick note about each of my visits and my
favorite things about each one:
801 North Fairfax
Avenue, Los Angeles California
Iced Kumo coffee and
chia seed muffin. Wide range of people here: most women wearing yoga pants, a
homeless guy, a man in a leather jacket and cowboy hat, a woman running her
business on her laptop and phone, a woman with tattoos asking an older guy for a
job. In terms of food, they only had a few baked goods inside the shop, outside
they had a food truck.
1636 Silver Lake
Boulevard., Los Angeles California 90026
Scenes of ancient
Greece covered the walls, golden chandeliers hung in the main room, the walls
were red. Wide variety but pricey food. Tacked on service fee to offset minimum
wage increase. Being a Saturday morning most people were in workout clothes: walking,
running or yoga. Definitely more of a community feel than some of the other
coffee houses I visited. The zucchini bread was really good. Valrhona mocha.
Intelligentsia
Silverlake
3922 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029
They place the mug of
coffee on a wooden tray with cup of milk and pitcher with extra coffee. I also
liked the blue tiled floor. They only had baked goods. Tough parking on the
weekend as everything is permit only on the side streets. I parked on Santa
Monica two blocks away.
Best Cold Drink On Hot Day
Starbucks
454 Fair Oaks Ave,
South Pasadena, CA 91030
My boss gave me a
gift card to Starbucks when the temperature was over 105 degrees. It was a day
that definitely called for a venti Java Chip Frappuccino. I know Frappuccinos
are travesty to coffee purist but sometimes you just need to have that 600 calorie
caffeinated brain freeze to get you through the day. Lots of free parking and
nice fountain outside.
Best Food
Great food menu and
delicious food. Had a delicious iced Almond Joy coffee. It left me wired for
rest of the day. While the benches
outside were a little hard, there were large
orange cushions that provided great back support. Staff was friendly
here and you could find parking a block south on the side streets. I was only
able to stay an hour but it had such a good vibe that wish I could have stayed
longer.
Best Slogan
Alfred Coffee &
Kitchen
8428
Melrose Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90069
Had cappuccino and
small tasty breakfast burrito. Everyone wearing black here and well groomed.
Perhaps it was because it was in the middle of Melrose fashion row. Nice area
to walk around after a writing session. Farmers Market takes place out front so
parking can be tough. While it was crowded, the tables turned over pretty
quickly. I loved the slogan their cups "We are here to inspire you."
