Introducing the Lunch Box Atlas: Coffee in Los Angeles

Launching guides with 13 coffee shops I frequent to write, dream big and recharge

This is the first in a series of guides to the places I love and why. Restaurants, markets, cafes and shops but also their neighborhoods and histories. I’ll tell you what to eat, where to go, and what to see, as well as offer answers for the curious traveler and trail markers for the intellectual journeys that await.

I began to think deeply about guides when I was an LA Times reporter covering news in working class immigrant communities. Guides proliferated in a media environment in which most meaningful coverage of people and institutions had withered.

Lifestyle coverage enjoys more stable economics than news. But people couldn’t help but wonder why lattes got attention while evictions, disinvestment and corruption went unrecognized. Their neighborhoods were often the subjects of stories that didn’t treat them as part of the audience. Guide writers had no choice but to cater to search algorithms, but the endless battle for optimization had created different realities that sat on top of each other, fighting each other to exist.

The Lunch Box Atlas is my attempt to create guides that speak to everyone in the room. I want to celebrate the food and places I love and share what I’ve learned from them. I’ll tell you what to buy but also try to show you the bigger picture. Future guides will cover dim sum in the San Gabriel Valley, swap meets in Southern California, beef in Japan, ekiben, and grocery stores.

From a critical perspective, I try to treat every transaction as a chance to learn something new, make a connection and even be transformed. I’m honest about what I don’t know but always seek to grow my understanding. I spend my own money, avoid freebies and conflicts of interest, and I’m funded entirely by a discerning group of investors also known as my subscribers. We are always welcoming new partners.

Coffee shops in Los Angeles are where we compose our ideal creative lives; equal parts home, office and safe house; playgrounds and labs for the side hustles we hope to grow into day jobs.

Every Angeleno needs a network of spots across the city to wait out traffic, take meetings and seek inspiration.

Taste in coffee shops is personal and depends on your creative ambitions. Your home cafe is a place to get work done that feels nothing like the workplace. It has all the pleasures and comforts of home but without distractions and chores.

These are my favorites from two decades as a roving newspaper reporter. Each has seating with back support, wifi and strong coffee. Most have a place to plug in your laptop, decent parking and enough space so that you won’t struggle to find a seat.

I have no idea what people wear at most of these places. But if you show up in basketball shorts to write emails, no one cares. And contrary to popular belief, that’s the cool thing about Los Angeles. There’s a scene but participating isn’t mandatory. You can be one of the try-hards or just relax and ignore it. I’ve been to the trendy places and list some of them here, but a stressful line and seating struggle ruins my productivity. If a place is slammed regularly I tend to find another. I like good coffee and food, but when I’m working I’m just focused on getting enough of both inside me.

For paid subscribers, here’s the list as a Google Maps link.

Verve Coffee and Commissary | Arts District

This former Arts District warehouse has been converted to a sun-drenched, award-winning architectural marvel of a cafe. There’s two-story windows, a light, healthy menu and a changing lineup of specialty tea and coffee drinks served in unmarked mason jars. The first floor houses a commercial coffee roaster encased in glass as well as conversation pit-style seating. There are more window seats upstairs where coffee classes take place. Just as inspiring as the design are the walks you end up taking around the neighborhood. SCI-Arc is down the street and sometimes you spot students working on murals. The art book store Hennessey + Ingalls is a short stroll through some of the city’s most competitive tagging grounds. Elaborate graffiti is everywhere and it’s interesting to see how far artists come to leave their mark.

Chimney Coffee House | Chinatown

I’ve been going to Chimney Coffee since it opened in 2010. I love the powerful AC, ample seating and the Thai flavors in the breakfast sandwiches and iced coffees. This was my workplace away from the office when I was working downtown at the Los Angeles Times. It’s in the same building as LAX-C, a massive, mostly-Thai grocery emporium where a lot of Asian restaurants get food but also signage, decor and traditional Thai crafts. The store, affectionately called Thai Costco, is a great place to walk around and get creative juices flowing. There’s also a steam tray lunch counter that serves combo plates of curries, stews, and stir fries, spiced for Thai palates. You can cool off your tongue at Mama Ting’s coconut cakes stand outside, and then re-up with a fresh, funky papaya salad. This building used to host several large murals, and two are still visible, one of native warriors riding horses and another of the Starship Enterprise.

Cafe Mak | Koreatown

This is a classic late-night spot in Koreatown. The storefront looks deserted and the entrance is tucked away in a quiet alley. Look for a row of cast iron chairs and tables set up along a paved brick sidewalk. It’s deceptively large and well-hidden - when you turn the corner it feels like you’ve stumbled upon a Greenwich Village literary hangout. But instead of writers it’s pajama-clad students from Southwestern Law School and the vocation colleges in the area. I love the creaky wood floors, exposed brick, eclectic furniture and massive, chaotic menu. It’s like the Korean version of a Hong Kong style diner like JJ’s Cafe in Monterey Park, a wild and ungovernable mix of Asian and ambiguously European flavors. I’m curious about the wine menu, the cakes, and something called Mak Ramen, but I’ve only ever had coffee. If midnight isn’t late enough, you can always extend the work session at Spot Coffee down the street, open until 2 a.m.

About Time | Koreatown

This is an attractive rendition of a Korean third wave coffee shop - lots of white, light wood and concrete and a menu of cream-topped einspanners, seasonal pastries and lattes flavored with sweet corn and mochi. It’s a renovation of the old Caffe Bene space, which was built in the 1920’s as a movie studio back when Hollywood was located in Koreatown. It has half a dozen different seating zones for groups of various sizes and volumes. You can park in the lot behind the building, which is a big part of what makes it so relaxing to visit. It’s open until 1 a.m. and right next door to a lot of busy late-night bars and clubs, in case you want to end your workday with a bang. Bonus restaurant rec: take your friends from out of town for bar food in Dwit Gol Mok’s hidden courtyard right next door.

Cafe Loft | Koreatown

Black and white checkerboard floors, crimson walls, high-backed velvet chairs and gilded mirrors give this place an old-school kitsch that reminds me of Japanese kissaten. I started coming to this place in 2012, and the coffee dates to some time before the Korean third wave. The drinks used to be more like to be desserts and go heavy on presentation, lots of fussy powders and syrup stripes. But a few years ago they were updated with more modern, minimalist drinks to better compete with all the recent Koreatown coffee newcomers (here’s me talking about that on the radio). The buried lede: this place has free parking spots available in a lot just down the street that no one seems to know about. I rely heavily on them when I come to Koreatown and I can’t believe I’m telling people.

Highly Likely | West Adams

When I moved to West Adams I felt deeply ambivalent about how my presence would reshape the fragile economics of the historic Black and immigrant neighborhood. But I was excited to become a regular at Highly Likely, an all day cafe with an upscale menu and a half-moon coffee bar of polished blond wood. It brought much-needed public space to a quiet section of Jefferson Boulevard was previously best known for Mel’s Fish Shack.

Mel’s was a historic fish fry restaurant started by Mel Powell, a math and metal shop teacher at Crenshaw High School, a famed local impresario also known for his laundry service, wrought iron business and liquor store. Highly Likely was almost certainly part of a common strategy to cultivate higher property values in the neighborhood by introducing luxury amenities. I later learned that the investors own several other properties on the same street. Mel’s closed in 2024, a few years after Highly Likely was featured in “Insecure” on HBO.

All my immediate neighbors were former LAUSD employees on fixed incomes struggling to afford rent. I never saw them at Highly Likely. But the truth is they enjoyed the coffee shop too. And I always find myself stopping by if I’m in the area. They have these carved wood mid-century modern chairs that curve around my lower back in such a soothing way. Every pastry is delicious and so are the salads and breakfast bowls, even though some of them are Asian-inspired in a way that I find mildly triggering. And I talked to a lot of locals appreciate having access to something so nice. I don’t think any of us are immune to these pleasures, even though they have costs.

Saba Surf and Coffee | Venice

This is a coffee shop that also sells surfboards, wetsuits, and its own branded wax. It's an sunny space that’s perfect for that phase in your life when you decide you want to make being a beach person your whole personality. It’s a cliche and I’m still stuck in it but I have no regrets about the time I spend going to the beach and being in the ocean. The baristas know how to work the espresso machine but no one here is a beverage artist. There’s pastries sourced from Tartine, yoga, events and food popups on the weekends. And if you can score a seat by the window in the comfy custom-made armchairs, you can get incredible amounts of reading done.

Coffee MCO | Koreatown

Coffee MCO is the type of place to make you wonder: why are all of these Asian people cooler than me? I think I just come here because I’m hoping one of the baristas will compliment my sneakers. Actually I know my style isn’t worthy of their attention. It’s more like I aspire to improve myself and someday become the kind of person who might own sneakers that would one day catch the eye of a barista here. I do also enjoy the drinks, upscale DIY vibes, the wall full of album cover art and the playlist. The name MCO is a combination of the names Mason and Cohen, the creators of the coffee shop, who each have their own latte. The Mason is whole milk with brown butter caramel and smoked sea salt, and the Cohen is oat milk and Earl Grey syrup. Seating comes in the form of an outdoor patio on the first floor, a balcony and a second floor lofted space with armchairs and tables.

Bricks and Scones | Larchmont Village

Remember the whimsical, cozy ambiance of the 2000's era coffee shop? It’s here in a snug two story space that feels spiritually related to the cafe from “Friends.” Getting here can be difficult because the neighborhood’s parking restrictions are fearsome, as befitting the considerable political capital of the residents - among them former governors, district attorneys and scions of old California money. The signs are menacing, inscrutable yet unforgiving. I’m still smarting financially from the tickets I got here. If you manage to get in the door it’s pretty nice. The menu is bracingly plain and blissfully immune to trends. Bananas still go with Nutella even if it’s not doing numbers on Instagram.

Aroma Coffee and Tea | Studio City

My philosophy is work in the coffee shop for the job that you want, not the job that you have. My first aspirational espressos were at Literati Cafe in Brentwood, a screenwriter hangout that was a short bus ride from UCLA. Aroma is a house-turned-cafe in Studio City also frequented by people in the industry and although the vibe is more upscale quaint, it can be kind of a scene. CBS and Universal have offices nearby and it’s just fashionable enough for the film and TV execs that live or work nearby to take a meeting there without feeling too much like a bumpkin. But there are plenty of broke writers and students posting up at the tables too. I started coming here during my brief stint as a San Fernando Valley beat reporter, but it’s mostly outdoors, so I avoid it on hot days.

Holy Grounds | El Sereno

This is is like a community center of a coffee shop, with a stage, open mic nights, readings and a big well-loved bulletin board. Most of the seating is in this complicated courtyard with multiple levels and fountain. It’s decorated with a lot of reclaimed sculptures and art, some Asian, some Mexican, some Southwestern. It's mostly an outdoor coffee shop and I don’t come here on hot days, but it’s one of my favorite places to work on a fall evening. There’s a very real and warm neighborly feeling here, and it's the first place I tried Cafe de Olla with coconut milk.

Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen | South LA

Have you ever had the Jamaican patties from Simply Wholesome, a cafe just across the street from here? If you have, you understand that it’s important to collect as many reasons as you can to be in this neighborhood. Hilltop is essential to that enterprise. Official maps call this area View Park/Windsor Hills but I’ve never really heard people use that - people seem to call this area Slauson. “Insecure” creator Issa Rae is one of the partners in this cafe, a warm space with good music and a tasty fusion menu of LA flavors that never feels too forced. As for Jamaican patties, I like curry chicken and seafood.

Valley Boulevard Starbucks | San Gabriel

I can hear you rolling your eyes. Why is this on the list, Frank? Are you just that precious of a contrarian? Trying to get a prize from the teacher for being edgy? Ok that was hateful. But I accept these criticisms and more, because you’re wrong. Have you ever tried to work remotely from the east San Gabriel Valley? My previous number one option was Boba Avenue 8090, a Taiwanese tea shop practically enveloped with cigarette smoke. Talk to me after you take an important phone call to disco lighting and loud Canto pop. I was reporting on Chinese immigration and investment in the San Gabriel Valley for the Los Angeles Times and had to kill a lot of time waiting to attend banquets where I could meet the right people. When Boba Ave closed and moved to Rowland Heights I was devastated. This Starbucks was my remote-work salvation when it opened in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in 2018. And, dare I say it, it’s fucking majestic - soaring ceilings, 20-foot windows and plentiful seating that includes comfy armchairs. I’ve also enjoyed places like Smoking Tiger Coffee Lab, Bon Appetea and Fresh Roast but I keep coming back to this Starbucks for convenience, comfort and cooling.