Silver Lake’s coffee bar Intelligentsia is known for its creative scene, quality coffee and modern interior design. The patio is filled with people relaxing in the venue.
Before heading to Silver Lake, I had a clear-cut image of what I expected to find: small, high-end speciality shops, overpriced and exotic cafes and willowy, well-dressed 20-somethings in trendy outfits worthy of the best vintage stores in town.
In a way, I was right. Silver Lake does give off a hipster vibe, if only because it feels like one of Los Angeles’ better-kept secrets. Each store ““ and I stopped by several ““ has its own personality to it, as well as a vibrancy that many places in Westwood lack.
For the third week in a row I took the Metro Line 2 along Sunset Boulevard. This time I went past the old clubs and tourist traps near UCLA to an area that lacks some of the polish of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
I got off on the corner of Sunset and Lucile and made my first stop at Vacation, a record shop owned by Pete Majors, 33. Vacation specializes in vinyl as a format, according to Majors, and rock as a genre. They carry independent, punk, goth, experimental and any other rock genre you can think of as well as some country, jazz, hip-hop and disco.
Vacation, which has been open for two years, also sells turntables, turntable accessories and cassettes. Most items cost about the same as a CD, around $15. Music costs less online, but you pay for the interactive experience. Vacation also has in-store events such as panel discussions and in-store performances.
Next stop was the Secret Headquarters, a comic book store literally next door to Vacation. The decor is simple ““ white walls with wooden racks for comic books and the occasional “Walking Dead” zombie target practice poster.
The Secret Headquarters’ selling points are its selection of small, locally printed comics and the absence of action figures, memorabilia and anything else you find in most comic book stores that isn’t a comic.
West of the Secret Headquarters is Spice Station, a small store hidden away from the street by a “Secret Garden”-type entrance. To get to the store you have to walk down a short pathway framed by greenery to get to a small courtyard. In the courtyard there are benches with bright orange cushions and a large trellis decorated with pink paper hearts hanging from strings. There is a tea room to the left, and the main shop is on the right.
The Spice Station, which also has a location in Santa Monica, sells more than 200 different types of dried herbs, salts, sugars and spices. I’ve never heard of most of the herbs there, and according to Bronwen Tawse, co-owner of the shop, their most popular foreign spice is Urfa Biber, a Turkish pepper with a very smokey smell.
At this point I hadn’t actually run into any real hipsters in the traditional sense. I was beginning to think that I’d been misled when I finally made my way to Intelligentsia’s Silver Lake coffee bar. It’s located in a reddish brown building with Intelligentsia written across the entrance in capital white letters outlined in electric blue. It’s impossible to miss, as it is the shop with the most aesthetically pleasing exterior.
It was also the most lively place I visited. Most of the chairs on the outdoor patio were filled with people chatting over coffee, studying or sitting with their laptops. I talked to regular customer Jesse Spring, 24, while he sat on a staircase near the entrance. Spring said the cafe is frequented by creative types and people come for the scene, the energy and the vibe, as well as the quality coffee and modern, flawlessly designed wood interior.
As for the actual coffee, the shop aims to offer a broader selection than the average coffee shop, though their price range of $2.50-$5 is reasonable. The seasonal espresso, Honey Badger, is from Kenya and Brazil.
My last stop in Silver Lake was the Pazzo Gelato, a tiny but memorable gelato shop. For $2.95 you can get a scoop of any of the flavors offered, which range from the usual (strawberry sorbet) to the refreshingly new (chocolate orange sorbet).
According to supervisor and barista Asher Geldman, 21, Pazzo Gelato changes their flavors regularly. A popular recent flavor was salty chocolate pretzel. I tried the chocolate orange sorbet, which is good if you like dark chocolate, but settled on the bananas foster before heading back to Westwood.
If you wish you had a “Walking Dead” zombie target practice poster for your room, e-mail John at ajohn@media.ucla.edu.