When Chicago roaster Intelligentsia opened this coffeebar at Sunset Junction in 2007, it helped turn Silver Lake into the centre of LA's third-wave coffee movement. The airy, concrete-floored space with its long bar of baristas pulling single-origin shots set the template that dozens of LA cafes have since copied.
It still draws a queue most mornings — laptop workers, dog-walkers stopping mid-loop from the reservoir, and the steady eastside crowd. Grab a cortado and a pastry and sit at the communal table to watch the Junction wake up.