Continuing from Part 1 and Part 2 of my look back at LA’s growing Coffee Culture, it’s time to look at what has changed over time:
Handsome Coffee Roasters: recently acquired by Blue Bottle and in the midst of being assimilated, so it remains to be seen what happens here! In the mean time, here’s my old Handsome Coffee review and a couple photos I hadn’t posted, below.
Cafe Dulce Pop-up: I came by to sell my old coffee grinder and visited before they opened, so I can’t say much about this one except that it was in a cool corner location of what I believe used to be a car repair shop in downtown LA.Roll ups on both walls open up to create a really cool space! They’ve since relocated to a more permanent space in Little Tokyo serving Lamill coffee.
Umamicatessen: Now renovated and branded as ‘Umami Broadway,’ this downtown LA location used to house several concepts within the same space, one of which was a cafe and gourmet donut bar manned by Matt Wygal who whipped up a few fun and delicious coffee creations like the ‘deconstructed’ cappuccino, and a vinegar and freeze-dried blueberry rimmed cold brew – check them out below!
CoffeeBar was a pretty impressive spot downtown, but it has since closed shop with the owners converting it to a bar called Beelman’s Pub, opening soon. According to this article, they lost 75% of their business when a Starbucks opened up across the street, though a commenter echoes what I’ve heard – that the conversion to a bar was always part of the plan. Shame!
That’s it for now, hope you enjoyed this little series – see more in Part 1 and Part 2. I’ll be visiting LA this summer, so look forward to a few updates down the road. If you have any tips for new spots I should visit, please share in the comments or on Twitter!
