[The kickoff post's here; dark red lines mark the streets I've walked so far]
Compared to the sprawling city of LA, Santa Monica’s a teeny city. You can walk the 2.5 miles or so from the beach to Centinela — the west and east margins of Santa Monica — with relative ease.
So far, I’ve walked all of Wilshire within Santa Monica. This street alone contains at least 2 Irish pubs, 3 Indian restaurants, and more sushi spots than I can keep track of.
Mainly, I checked out coffee shops, cuz I’m trying to find one nearby that keeps longer hours than 18th Street Coffee House. Unfortunately, good indie coffee shops are kinda tough to come by.
Farthest west’s Interim Cafe on 5th (right), which I love — for brunch. This coffee shop-diner has great veggie eats and organic, fair trade coffee, but it’s a dining spot, not a hang out with your laptop and books spot.
Then there’s newly opened Cafe Zella (left) and Tazzina (right), practically across the street from each other near 16th. Both have a grab-and-go feel and a menu to match, and both close as biz hours draw to a close. Tazzino lists organic coffee — for an extra dime per cup — on its menu, but never has it brewing. Zella — which gets its caffeine from LA Mill — doesn’t have organic coffee either.
Bagel Nosh at 17th — where I get a plate of potatoes, eggs, and bagel with cream cheese on hung-over days — serves Diedrich’s Coffee (not organic or fair trade) and closes at like 2 pm. It oddly does, however, have wifi –
If any of you used to go to Our Cafe around 20th, it’s now closed.
Onward: N.Y. Bagel (left) at 22nd appears to serve organic coffee and tea! However, when I walked by a lil before 6 pm., it was already closed — as was Marina Bakery (right) at Princeton.
So: The good news is we’ve got lots of non-corporate coffee options on Wilshire (though there is a Starbucks and a Coffee Bean). The bad news is that none really invite loafing, none are open past 6-ish, and only two — Interim Cafe and NY Bagels — serves organic or fair trade coffee on a regular basis. Wifi’s hard to come by; people can log on until around 2 pm at Bagel Nosh, then blog until 10 pm at Whole Foods — but that’s ’bout it…. [Update: Bread & Porridge offers free wifi until 9 pm]
Will walk for wifi and good coffee –
Update, 5/17/07: Here’s Arizona Ave.
Have you tried Cafe Balcony? http://www.cafebalcony.com/index.php It’s just a half-block east of Centinela off of Santa Monica Blvd, so it’s not technically Santa Monica. But it’s independent, they’re open until midnight, and they use a special “siphon” process to make their coffee. Their house blend is organic, although I don’t know if it’s fair trade. I enjoy your website. Keep up the good work!
Comment by Edie — May 16, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
can’t tell from your map if you made it this far east, but bread and porridge (2315 Wilshire) is now open until 9pm and has free wi-fi. not too many choices in the way of coffee (or tables on the “living room” side), though, and i can’t vouch for organic/fair trade offerings.
Comment by lag2 — May 16, 2007 @ 11:13 pm
hmmm – this is my 2nd time trying to submit. but anyways, have you tried Cafe Balcony http://www.cafebalcony.com/ off of Santa Monica Blvd just a 1/2 block east of Centinela? Maybe too far east for you, but they’re open until midnight, and they pride themselves on their siphon-brewed coffee. Their house blend is organic, but I don’t know if it’s fair trade.
Comment by Edie — May 17, 2007 @ 11:24 am
have you tried the unurban?
UnUrban Coffeehouse – 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404 *
(right near trader joe’s @ 33rd street)
their website’s been down for a while (maybe someone should hip them to myspace or geocities) but they’re still open.
cool vibe, funky art, etc. a great place to chill and write.
Comment by ecoFriendly — May 17, 2007 @ 11:56 am
Haven’t tried Cafe Balcony yet, though I mean to! I’m going to finish walking Santa Monica Blvd. soon, so will do that then. Edie — Your first comment went into spam — not sure why — but I fished it out –
lag2 — I’m at Bread & Porridge right now –
ecoFriendly — I’ve been to the Unurban a couple times, but it’s just far enough that I tend not to go. Will drop by when I walk Pico though –
Comment by Siel — May 18, 2007 @ 1:33 pm