Openings

Dogtown Coffee Opens in Santa Monica

Locavore localism?
Locavore localism? Photo: Unemployed Eater

Santa Monica welcomes a new coffee shop on Main Street today, but be warned: the place has a firm “No Kooks” policy currently in place. Unemployed Eater reports that Itay Raz, Assaf Raz, and Itai Klein’s Dogtown Coffee officially opens today in the Zephyr Productions building, the current iteration of Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom, and Craig Stecyk’s legendary Zephyr surfboard shop that went on to popularize the terms “Dogtown” and “Z-Boys” in mainstream culture through the team of competitive skaters they established in the neighborhood. The new coffeehouse pledges its allegiance to preserving the history and importance of the Ocean Park area and the city’s forgotten Pacific Ocean Park, while giving the community something it can’t get enough of, good coffee and healthy dining options.

The organic, micro-roasted coffee is brewed with a Linea 2-Group Marzocco in a space spread with surfboard resin floors and tables, and hung with old skate decks, with a screaming yellow Bahne in all its clunky beauty, a sexy, curvy Alba, and the primitive Sincor and Black Knight, looking like the skateboard equivalents of a Waikiki redwood plank from the early 20th century.

A mural puts you back at Pacific Ocean Park

A bulletin board reserved for “locals only” seeks to amass business cards from the area, playing on the generation’s conversion from wild youths to responsible adults. There are also collages and murals recalling the early days of surfing and skating around the long-gone Pacific Ocean Park in an open space that treasures local roots and stays tasteful, despite the “no kooks” and Dogtown graffiti.

Currently, the cafe is serving all-day breakfast, with customizable breakfast sliders, three types of breakfast burritos, and baked goodies, as well as a lunchtime selection of nine paninis, acai bowls, and salads starring kale and arugula, with plenty for the vegan and gluten-free set.

So far, it’s refreshing to see what a few locally-minded dudes have done here in tribute to the bygone era of skating swimming pools and drinking out of neighbors’ hoses, right when all that surrounds it strives to be ever boughie and Google-friendly. If nothing else, this guy will be totally stoked! Wah-pa!

Dogtown Coffee, 2003 Main St. Santa Monica. 310-310-3665.

Dogtown Coffee Opens Today on Santa Monica’s Main Street [UE]

Dogtown Coffee Opens in Santa Monica