It’s the end of an era at The Original Pantry, as The L.A. Times tells us its owner, former mayor Richard Riordan, can no longer afford to serve free coffee with breakfast (yeah, right) at his nearly 87-year-old cafe. The place has long promised not to turn anyone away for a lack of funds, even that guy next to you who mumbles to himself, but due to a 40% rise in coffee prices, Riordan says its for the best, claiming the cafe no longer needs to “charge more for breakfast, and we no longer automatically pour coffee for everyone.” We can’t imagine O.P. is really all about shade-grown Blue Mountain beans in the first place, but fortunately, customers don’t seem to care about the price hike, just like they probably don’t care what goes in the cup. [LAT]
