City of Angles, City of Bad Coffee

One would think that living in Los Angeles, it would not be very hard to find some good coffee houses. Wrong! While serving in the United States Navy, I was stationed in Bangor Washington, just across the way from Seattle. Seattle had a plethora of great coffee shops. Literally everywhere you turned, there was one waiting for you. After I was honorably discharged in 2005, I moved to Portland, Oregon. This is a region where people take their coffee seriously (even more so, in my opinion, than Seattle.) I have never seen so many coffee joints! Literally on every corner, you will find a great cup of joe. The best concept ever was so popular in Portland, drive-thru espresso stands. I agree, some were better than others, and everyone had their favorites, but the one I truly loved was so unique. It is a franchise, I later found out while doing some research for a college business class, but they seem to only be in the Pacific Northwest. Even the big name coffee house (Starbucks) were open 24 hours a day!


After my reluctant leave from Portland, I make my way down the Golden Coast to Los Angeles, California. Being so accustomed to the variety from the Pacific Northwest, I was more than a little disappointed to find the selections of coffee/espresso places to be quite null. Very few choices are offered. You can choose Starbucks, Coffee Bean, or It’s a Grind. All, quite large businesses and all in my opinion, have not so great coffee. I settle for Starbucks. Now there are some small places scattered here and there, but I notice they do not last too long. It seems in the City of Angels, the people prefer the image of large business. You can get your basic cup of coffee from the thousands of little doughnut shops that seem to be everywhere, but don’t expect it to be much better off than paint thinner.