7 Places to Café Sit (All Euro-Style) and People-Watch in Los Angeles
Need your caffeine fix but have a few more moments than your usual run into Peet's Coffee? Take an hour to sit at a café, in the sun (pretending to type a screenplay furiously, optional). From Pasadena to Venice, there’s lots of people-watching to do.
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Intelligentsia
It’s the definition of “hipster coffee shop.” The blue-and-white tile and plywood is the backdrop for Silverlake’s coolest crowd. Be stealthy and snag one of the patio’s shaded seats to enjoy your macchiato, flat white or Americano.
3922 W. Sunset Blvd.; 323-663-6173 or intelligentsiacoffee.com
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LA TROPEZIENNE
This just-opened spot is an outpost of the famed St.-Tropez bakery, and you’re getting the classic French treatment here: delicious open-faced tarts served on little marble tables next to woven café chairs of the sort that line French boulevards.
211 S. La Brea Ave.; 323-413-2972 or latropeziennebakery.com
Gjusta
This 5,000-square-foot warehouse attracts the beautiful Venice crowd with its open-faced tartines and carefully constructed iced espressos. But the real action is at the charcuterie counter, sandwich and pizza bar. Then everyone sits on milk crates outside on the patio, because chairs are so bourgeois, non?
320 Sunset Ave., Venice; 310-314-0320 or gjusta.com
Lincoln
Pasadena got lucky when a baker and a former Nordstrom’s buyer got together to open this minimalist café and shop filled with international wares (Mexican paper flowers, rustic bowls) and fresh-baked treats. Come for the breakfast salad, a hard-boiled egg on top of dressed greens with crispy garlic bread tucked in.
1992 Lincoln Ave., Pasadena; 626-765-6746 or lincolnpasadena.com
Aroma Coffee and Tea
Need a location for a romantic comedy set in an indie coffee shop? This Studio City place is waiting: Pan in past the red awning over a few sidewalk café tables, past the working fireplace and bookshelves to the back patio where celebs are low-key enjoying their lattes. Get there early on weekends for strawberry brioche French toast.
360 Tujunga Ave., Studio City; 818-508-0677 or aromacoffeeandtea.com
Joan's on Third
With its location on a see-and-be-seen shopping stretch, a sidewalk seat at Joan's is hard to snag but well worth it for people-watching while noshing on meals that range from light (ficelle with Brie and ham) to comfortingly filling (a short-rib sandwich so succulent, it graced the cover of Bon Appetit magazine). Don't leave without a bag of caramels or a pint of house-made soup.
8350 W. Third St.; 323-655-2285 or joansonthird.com
Le Pain Quotidien
Need a healthy protein boost after your intense Flywheel sesh? The ladies of Larchmont Village do, and the smoked salmon toast on gluten-free bread here does the trick. With a matcha latte, of course.
113 N. Larchmont Blvd.; 323-461-7701 or lepainquotidien.com