Here at Blogging.LA, we’ve always got an eye out for a good cafe to #occupy while we bang out our freelance writing, novels, screenplays, and even an occasional blog entry. We Valley-dwellers don’t have much to choose from, and the list gets even shorter when you knock off the places that lock up for the night when it’s still early evening. Sure, there’s the mandatory minimum 1.0 Starbucks/square mile ratio, but we all know that doesn’t really count. Studio City’s Coffee Fix, on the other hand, does qualify.

I’ve been living in the southeast part of the Valley for a little over a year now, and while I have been a big fan of M Street Coffee for weekend afternoon writing sessions (they close early), or Aroma Cafe as the obligatory location for first dates arranged through online dating sites (they seem to busy to be a good place to write), more often than not when I’m looking for a good place to write on a weekday evening I end up at some greasy-spoon location drinking diner coffee and trying to talk myself out of apple pie a la mode. Blogging.LA’s Travis Koplow mentioned the Coffee Fix to me at least once or twice, but it took me until just this afternoon to finally check it out. While I would agree with some of the Yelpers who seem to suggest that the place is a little dingy and unpolished, I actually find that quality a bit endearing.

Here are a few things I liked about Coffee Fix:

• Ample seating, with a few outlets interspersed.
• Open ’til 10pm daily.
• Iced americano tasted better than Starbucks and Coffee Bean. (Low bar, I know.)
• Free Wi-Fi.
• Fair amount of parking.
• Standard coffee-shop type food menu.

Okay, so I guess this isn’t entirely a ringing endorsement for the place, but I’m excited to have an alternative to the diners. And the Coffee Fix offers a brownie a la mode that might help me stop eating so damned much apple pie.

Intelligentsia Coffee in Venice

Although I work mostly from home, a large residential construction project next door this summer has pile-driven me out of the house. Therefore, I’ve been searching for the perfect West Side coffee shop in which to work. While this subject has been picked before, and others have their own considerations, I have a challenging qualification to add to the  basic requirements of tasty coffee and free WiFi: the place has to be kind of quiet.

Before you ask, I’ll answer: (1) Yes, I’ve tried local libraries. Have you  been to one lately? Loud talking and even cell phone chatting is now standard practice. (2) Yes, I own noise-cancelling headphones, and use them frequently. (3) Yes, I realize that coffee houses have a long history as places of lively conversation. (4) A real office or shared workspace? Yes, I’ve thought about it. But how’s their coffee?

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

Peet’s: Albeit a sizable chain, with its numerous West Side locations and good dependable coffee (note: I usually drink decaf, which is arguably more difficult to make tasty), it’s a go-to place for me at least to pick up a coffee on the run. Officially, Peet’s limits its free WiFi to an hour, but I have never had a problem — either the service continues for as long as I like, or, if it does shut off, they happily extend it for me upon request. However, they play their music (often oldies) loud , and, perhaps due to the acoustics, the staff’s cheerily overcaffeinated conversations can be heard loudly and clearly.

Intelligentsia: I share the blogging.la love for Intelligentsia. They have hooked us up with a mini party at their Venice location, and they recently provided gallons of free coffee for our most recent, hugely successful Donut Summit. Intelligentsia’s coffee is certainly in the top 3 of those that I have tasted in the Los Angeles area. Unfortunately, the Venice Intelligentsia is super crowded, and its industrial concrete interior, while great looking and appropriate, is really noisy.

Balconi: This is also in my top 3 for taste, and, as I found out on a scouting mission with blogging.la cohort Travis after her preview here, their new location at Olympic and Sawtelle is nice and quiet. However, Balconi has gone to the other extreme, withholding WiFi in order not to turn the place into a work space. Perhaps you could work there if you have your own hotspot and are immune to the disapproving looks which could result.

Venice Grind: This place is on a lot of West Siders’ list of favorites. It has tasty coffee, and a helpful (if quirky) staff. And it has a surprisingly quaint outdoor seating area in the back, where I had a great first date that turned into an intense relationship. But the Grind blasts Motown/oldies/classic rock music. Again, what’s with the oldies? Given the somewhat hip and younger crowd, the music does not come off as hip or ironic, but rather, corporate. And speaking of corporate, the Grind has Shepard Fairey prints on the walls, which only serve to remind me how corporate some people have become since 2008′s days of “Hope”.

The Coffee Bean & Starbucks: They’re loud,  gaudily corporate, and serve horrendous tasting coffee IMO, for different reasons. Compared to these places, Peet’s is downright homey. So, no.

The Rumor Mill: This was one of the first places to limit their free WiFi. As I recall, it was either limited to an hour, or was shut off during lunch time, or both. That was at least 2 years ago. I have not been back since. Some businesses just have different views about customer service than I do.

Cafe Luxxe (Santa Monica): Their pressed coffee is brilliant, and rounds out my top 3 coffees in the L.A. area. However, I don’t think they have WiFi, and, in any case, the intimate quarters are more conducive to good conversations than the focused kind of work (including editing) that I’m doing on the laptop.

Geo’s Organic Coffee: I just discovered this place, in its unobtrusive location on Inglewood and Culver. It may have the best Yelp rating of any coffee shop I’ve mentioned here, and deservedly so. The place is small, has a Mom-and-Pop feel, the coffee is delicious, the guy behind the counter is laid-back and good at what he does, even the rest room is very clean, and parking is plentiful along Culver Blvd. (there’s also a parking lot out front, but it requires backing out into Inglewood Blvd. traffic). I really want to keep coming back, but the music thing may stop me. At least it’s not oldies music.

Tanner’s: I tried this place once. It was very crowded, very noisy, and the iced decaf coffee was, for me, undrinkable. Other than that, I’m crazy about it.

The good news is that, if noise is not an issue for you while you’re working, the West Side presents lots of great coffee shops to suit your tastes. As for me, did I ever find the perfect, quiet West Side coffee shop to work in? Actually, I did. But I’m not going to tell you where it is, because words might get out.

Joker Beethoven, Jesus, and Justin Bieber all showed up

How awesome was yesterday’s Blogging.la 2nd Annual Donut Summit? A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can look at the pics after the jump and judge for yourself.

We had enthusiastic attendees (I estimate at least 100). We had the creative Blogging.la crew, especially Alexandra and Lucinda whose production and organization were off the charts. We had expert celebrity judges. And we washed it all down with stellar Intelligentsia Coffee. Yeah, it was something special.

Calm before the storm

Lucinda and her handmade donut games

Some of the Donut Summit crowd

Hard at work at the registration table

Our celebrity judges

Our prize winners and their "golden donut" medals

That Joker Beethoven is a media whore

A Mariachi band stopped by to eat our donuts ...

... then sang for their supper

Donuts + antacid bottle. I swear this photo wasn't staged

However, I can't swear to this one

We’re also changing locations this year – so come join us on July 31, at 2pm in Elysian Park.  We’ll be in picnic area 6, which you can find on this park map.

More details to follow!  Mark your calendars for the Donutocalypse on the 31st!

Click to make larger and more drool-worthy

There are so many reasons why I need to let you know about Shaky Alibi. Perhaps most signficantly, they have perfected the sweet/savory balance. I always have this brunch dilemma at restaurants. I often think this, above all other unmet needs, will drive me back into a serious romantic relationship: if I had a boyfriend, I could order the cinnamon apple French toast and he could order the Greek omelet and we could go halvsies. Sigh. But now, Shaky Alibi has saved me from propelling myself into yet another ill advised coupling just to avoid making up my mind about what to order for breakfast. They specialize in Belgian waffles, and by “Belgian waffles,” I mean that Mr. Shaky Alibi’s German great grandmother used to make an authentic Liege recipe that has inspired the opening of this coffee/waffle haven on Beverly Boulevard’s.

I read about the place on Urban Daddy a while back but only recently got a chance to go there. What hooked me in the review was the fact that the espresso is infused with tobacco and chocolate notes. I should have gotten a photo of the machine when I was there but I didn’t (I was too overwhelmed with the waffle), so you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s a thing of beauty–orange with lots of chrome. The espresso is delicious, so much so that I couldn’t even bring myself to try the shots of liquid chocolate. Let me say that again in case you weren’t paying attention: shots of liquid chocolate. Fuck yeah. [An aside: with all due respect to Urban Daddy, here are two differences between a blogging.la review and an Urban Daddy review. First, we say "fuck yeah" when we really like something (well, at least some of us do). And second, while Urban Daddy says you can meet up here "before catching Inception at the Grove," I'd suggest it's equally well located for a pre-Tapeheads screening at the New Beverly get together, except that Shaky Alibi closes too early--5pm Sunday and Monday, 7pm Tuesday through Thursday, 11pm Friday and Saturday.]

Yes, I came for the espresso, but I stayed for the waffle. Just cast your eyes on that beauty. It was delicious–a funnel cake-beignet-ish waffle sliced in half and filled with black forest ham and fontina cheese. This is what happens to a Monte Cristo when it grows up and goes to finishing school. Plus the place itself is well appointed and has cute and friendly servers. What more could you want? So now, in a three block stretch of Beverly, there is Susina Bakery, Milk, and Shaky Alibi. I’m calling it LA’s newest dessert row. Next time I’m committed to getting at least one shot of drinking chocolate.

Jean and Mel

At the back of Canter’s, on the far left side, there is a wall of photos with stars, personalities, regular customers, family and friends. This is one of those pictures (Taken by Kev-O). That’s Jeanie with Mel Brooks.

Jeanie has worked here for 54 years.

I’ll give you a minute to comprehend that.

54 years.

(Quick interruption here: it is now 7:19 and there are 3 patrons, not including me.)

Jeanie moved here with her husband and kids from Chicago a long time back. Her parents had already moved out here and they lived on Robertson and Cadillac which she called “West LA.” She had two babies at the time and needed to work so she started at Canter’s. Her husband (who passed away 13 years ago) had been a taxi driver in Chicago but got a job as a mail man here on LA. Both her kids and grandkids live in other states now.

Jeanie says the secret to her success is that she’s very friendly. “It takes a lot to make me angry.” She’s built quite a following and loves to kibitz around with her customers. She’s become good friends with many people you may have heard of, Michael Mann and Shotgun Kelly, as a couple of for-examples.

Her birthday was last Thursday and she worked on Wednesday night, which is when Shotgun (she calls him Shotgun) usually comes in. The Canter’s family got a big cake for her and Shotgun got up, grabbed a ketchup bottle and serenaded her with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday.

Everybody loves Jeanie. She’s famous and she says that everything she’s done, tv shows, documentaries, movies, newspaper and magazine articles, it’s all because she’s been here at Canter’s.

I hope some day I can say I’ve done something I love for 54 years.

If you want to meet Jeanie, she’ll be here until about 1pm today. We’ll be here until noon, blogging and collecting canned food and cash for the LA Foodbank.

What to do, what to do!

This just in: Mr. Canter has arrived!

"TK-421, Why aren't you at your post?" "I needed a Latte."

So, this caught my eye, but it caught it on Facebook. My friend Melinda snapped this from her cell and posted it there with the title, “Storm Troopers need coffee breaks too.”  She was kind enough to let me share it with you. (I have agents in the field!)

Where else but Los Angeles can you happen across a Stormtrooper making a call on his cell from a coffee shop? Well, where else on Earth. I imagine it’s fairly common on the Death Star.

This does, in fact, appear to be a Coffee Bean and not the Death Star Canteen, as described by Eddie Izzard. (Be Advised, that link leads to hilarity, but there is also liberal use of the “F-Bomb.” So, its NSFW rating depends largely on your work place’s attitude toward the word, “Fuck.”

So, I’m wondering if this is who he’s calling.

Pictured is Courtney Cruz, taken by Shannon Cottrell for the LA Weekly’s coverage of Star Wars Burlesque. Click the lovely photo to go to the article. That photo, incidentally, has been immortalized in Tattoo Ink. Click here to see the Ink, and LA Weekly’s article about that. (I don’t blame ‘em, I’d be proud, too.)

<Darth Vader Voice>Impressive.</Vader>

To get your free cuppa joe, go to their Facebook event page and RSVP then come by for your morning rev-up. There will also be gluten-free pastries to nosh provided by Yvonne’s Gluten Free Goodies.

If you can’t make the launch party, sign up for their free newsletter and start getting your daily helping of Westside action. You can also submit your event listing to be included in their newsletter.

See you tomorrow at Venice Grind to celebrate The Open Daily!

Venice Grind
12224 Venice Blvd.
Mar Vista
310-397-2227

Here’s the odd thing about Silverlake Coffee, though, and I in no way mean this as a slight: The music. Right now I’m listening to Van Morrison. Earlier it was Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart! “Forever Young!” Before I moved to LA, I assumed all the coffeeshops would be blaring the hippest new music that you never heard of. Hey, that’s how it was when I lived in Boston. It was also freezing cold all the time, which is why I left.

But yeah, here I am listening to soft rock. It’s kinda cool in a weird dadaesque, juxtapositionish way, like wearing a tailored suit in a homeless shelter, or washing your hair with dish soap, or eating a vegetarian hot dog.

So: Do you care about the music your favorite coffeeshop plays? Or do you just stick headphones in your ears and turn up your own music, like the guy at the next table I’m silently making fun of? Hey! Hipster at the next table! Trim your damn beard! You look like Osama bin Amish!

As you can see, it’s a slow week for me.

PS: While I was writing this they played Rod Stewart again. “Maggie May” this time, which you gotta admit is a pretty good song.