Location: 180 S La Brea Avenue, Mid-City

Welcome the City of Angels! The place where even making a quick stop to grab an iced latte on a warm Sunday afternoon between errands necessitates valet parking. The first 20 minutes free, of course.

Anytime I see the word coffee, cafe, latte, or any iteration of the espresso bean posted around town, it makes my heart flutter with pure joy. I picked up my now ever-present coffee addiction (or daily treat as I like to say) when I first started working in “the industry” and was charged with the glamorous task of taking everyone’s Starbucks order. Outside of that cliché fact, you can’t help but notice when a brand new, blinding, stark white building pops up while driving down the in-progress revamping that has become La Brea Avenue. A street that while trendy in its own right, sticks to a more common opaque color scheme.

Enter Graffiti Coffee Bar. Strangely named given that there isn’t much chromatism to the two-story black and white interior space. You feel like you’re about to walk into a Hollywood nightclub with the door entry selectively located on the side of the building, only to feel like you are actually in a nightclub with the thumping music and fireplace greeting you as you walk in. The Intelligentsia brewed coffee is delish (I smiled with every sip) but given that I spent $6 on an iced vanilla latte, it’ll be more of an indulgence than a regular neighborhood coffee spot.

Beware, they’re cash only (unbelievable and quite unacceptable in this day and age) and only serve whole or soy milk options, but were super friendly. I don’t see myself stopping in to sit and blog with my laptop anytime soon, I like a more quaint atmosphere where you can sit in your sweats and zone out for a couple of hours with your typical soft guitar music lacing the background; but I would make the trek here to meet a friend to catch up over coffee or if I’m feeling exceptionally rich and want to splurge on my caffeine fix.

All in all, a bit of a dramatic experience just to grab a latte, but it gave some spunk to an otherwise lazy Sunday last weekend. Then again, would it be Los Angeles if there weren’t some form of drama attached to it?