CicLAvia October 2011

photo by Alex C. Thompson

Will you be joining us amongst the thousands of other Angelino bikers and walkers to participate in this Fall's CicLAvia event? We do hope so! Festivities start tomorrow, October 9 at 10 am and continue until 3 p.m.!

Below is tomorrow's route which extends from East Hollywood by LACC, parts of Downtown Los Angeles and continuing in East Los Angeles in Boyle Heights.

Bring your bike, borrow a friends, or rent one from our friends at Flying Pigeon! Though skateboards, scooters, and old skool walking also warmly welcome. :)

We had so much fun last year and only think it'll get progressively better with the addition of new routes and community involvement.

TOTEMS by Sarah Soquel Morhaim

We are proud to share with you an exciting upcoming art event featuring beautiful work from our friend Sarah Morhaim!  She will be presenting her first solo photography exhibition at Synchronicty Space (713 Heliotrope Drive) with an opening reception this Thursday, September 22 from 7-10 p.m. Also at the event will be offered a gorgeous poster/catalogue of the show for a nice 3 bucks.  Come out, enjoy the art, and afterwards grab some delicious icecream from Scoops just across the street. How can you say no?

Nom Nom: Schodorf's Luncheonette open for Business

Have you been to our newest lunch spot, Schodorf's Luncheonette, just a block away from Cafe De Leche on the corner of Ave. 51 and York Blvd.? If you haven't maybe some beautiful pictures of some of the delicious salads and sandwiches will inspire you for a visit! Open Daily 11-3

Apple Salad: baby spinich, apples, toasted almonds, cranberries, blue cheese, apple vinigrette

Italian Sandwich: salami mortadella, provolone, romaine, pepperoninis, red bell pepper rings, spicy mustard, virgin olive oil, salt + pepper

Citrus Salad: mixed greens, orange wedges, cucumber, radishes, chived goat cheese, toasted pecans, mint, citrus vinaigrette.

"Schodorf's Luncheonette is dedicated to creating fresh & delicious, generously portioned sandwiches, salads and sous (with a side of old fashioned soda pops and gourmet chips). We'd like to stress preference for locally sourcred and organic when possible, with a stylistic nod to the old school traditions of our neighborhood of Highland Park, CA."

New Bike Corral: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Cafe De Leche!

So sorry for the lack of posts but we do have some great things to share with you to make up for the wait!

Last Friday February 18th, 2011 was a historical day for Cafe de Leche and Highland Park! On this memorable morning, CDL friends and family came to celebrate the public opening of L.A.'s very first bike corral, an efficient and inexpensive bike parking system which can hold up to 10 bikes at a time. It has been a popular and convenient system for bike friendly cities such as Portland and we are thrilled to finally see it enacted in Los Angeles, and wonderfully right in front of our cafe on Ave. 50 and York Blvd.! Also coming to join us for opening ceremonies were bicycle organizations and clubs such as the LA County Bicycle Coalition, our good friends at Flying Pigeon, and C.I.C.L.E. who organized mass rides just for the occassion! We are so proud of our very own cafe co-owner, Matt, who along with City Councilmember Jose Huizar, advocated for this great sustainable and community transportation program.

photos courtesty of Andrew Sachs and Matt Schodorf 

Cafe De Leche's Matt Schodorf and Anya Schodorf

Dan Debek, director of C.I.C.L.E.

Joe Linton

Josef Bray-Ali from Flying Pigeon

Fun (!) Things To Do This Weekend

Some exciting events this weekend!

Saturday December 11 is the monthly NELArt Walk and we will be having a special show at our shop! For this month we will be featuring a singular art installation by Julia Michalski in collaboration with SO| DA (Julianna So and Brenda So). It's architecture meeting out historic brick wall. Come join us for the event at 7-10 p.m. If you can't make it stop anytime throughout December. 

For more information on the designers/artists, see: 

www.juliamichalski.com 

www.sodaism.com 

Also come visit our table at the Artisanal L.A. Holiday Pop Up Shop! Like the Fall show it will be taking place in the Cooper Building in Downtown L.A. (Los Angeles Ave and E. 9th Street) on the first floor. This special event will be in conjunction with the popular craft fair Unique L.A. Come grab a tasty cup of Stumptown coffee while you participate in some good holiday fun and shopping! 

When: Saturday and Sunday, December 11-12, 11 A.M.- 6 P.M. 

Where: Cooper Building, 851 Santee Street (Los Angeles Ave and 9th Street)

Info: $6 Admission, Includes Hosted Drinks and Snacks, 30+ Local Vendors, Food Trucks, Pictures with Santa 

Have a great weekend! 

xx CDL 

Art Walk/Monster Drawing Rally!

This weekend is full of fun art events on the Eastside! First, on Saturday we will be hosting an art opening of Robey Clark's "Your Boyfriend" at the cafe as part of the monthly NELA Art Walk. Just a little info on the event:

Robey Clark's "Your Boyfriend" is a playful exploration of ink, fluidity, and duplication. It's a show that scrutinizes the concept of "The Art of the Coffee Shop" from various angles--from the meaning of an artists' work displayed on cafe walls to interactions with people like that girl pretending to read the Arts section of the New York Times next to you.

Robey Clark is an artist, printmaker, and graphic designer who lives in... Los Angeles and experiments with different media including (but certainly not limited to) photography, computer generation, and musical engineering. Some of his work was previously featured in our show, "Food City." "Your Boyfriend" is a combination of silkscreen, collage, and intricately penned drawings.


Please come join us! There will be beer, wine, and, of course, coffee. The newly launched artisanal ice cream cart, Little Barrel, will be on site providing free tastings of their frozen delicacies. Nom Nom. 

And before or after you come to see us, make a visit to the Eagle Rock Center of the Arts not too far from us for the highly anticipated Monster Drawing Rally hosted by our next door neighbors Outpost! 

Latin American Graphic Design @ THIS Gallery

We are super stoked about the opening of the Latin American Graphic Design show taking place tonight close to us at THIS Gallery (just on 5906 Figueroa)! From the THIS blog: 

"Our first in a series of global explorations into the greater design community- THIS turns it’s eye towards the thriving design community of Latin American countries. Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Argentina and Paraguay are all represented by some of the most exciting and interesting designers their nation has to offer.

Like Russia in the 20’s, Europe in the 40’s or America in the 60’s; the Latin American region today is undergoing a profound and pronounced social, political and artistic changes.

Graphic Design has always been a functional art form that is reactionary and informative It’s a tool used to inspire and educate.  There is something interesting going on- we aim to explore and celebrate a unique aesthetic and approach in modern design.

Eduardo Hernandez ( Mexico )

Material ( Chile )

Celeste Prieto ( Paraguay )

Juan Mendez ( Guatemala )

Lion Lucy ( Argentina )

Marco Schlesinger ( Brazil )"

 venga, venga, venga!!!

Event Recap: Artisanal L.A.

all photos by Matt Schodorf

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to participate in Artisanal L.A., a grand food event bringing together the best, local edibles under one beautiful penthouse roof at the Cooper Building in Downtown. We were so happy to be visited by both new faces and regular customers throughout the weekend. And an extra thanks to blogging.la and latimesblog for the kind and positive shoutouts!

We also made sure we didn't miss out on the other delicious goodies. We were especially fond of the gourmet champagne garlic mustard from SoNo Trading Company and the variety of baked goods from Cookie Casa and Bake Lab.

As part of our "artisanal" contribution we treated attendees to cups of hot and fresh Single Origin Stumptown pour overs. Though requiring a bit more patience, this special process makes it possible to taste all the subtleties of flavors in the beans, making it worth the extra wait.

 

 Coffee in "bloom"

 Thanks for all who came out and we hope that we can participate in another event in the future!

Artisanal L.A.

It's finally happening this weekend: Artisanal L.A.'s Fall show in Downtown L.A including yours truly! We are so excited to be apart of this amazing food event featuring more than 50 other rad food "artisans" gathering in a beautiful penthouse space on Saturday and Sunday. There will be tastings, awesome cooking workshops and demos, and an in house dj to spin tunes as you eat, drink, and be merry!

When: Saturday & Sunday

October 23rd & 24th

Event Hours:  11am – 6pm

Where: The Cooper Design Space Penthouse

860 S Los Angeles St 90014 – Map It!

 Tickets can be still purchased online here for $10 or $15 cash at the door.

We are expecting a big turnout which will include food bloggers and foodies alike! Hope you can join us and feel free to say hello to us at our table where we will be brewing our best!

Cafe De Leche Represents at CicLAvia!

Our very own Christine caught in action Downtown

Last weekend in celebration of 10/10/10, some of us from CDL were amongst the impressive slew of bici-lovers to participate in CicLAvia's first mega ride through Los Angeles! For the day, 7.5 miles of wide open streets starting in East Hollywood through Westlake, Downtown, and a bit on Eastside closed down exclusively to bikers and walkers. It was a blast and we were so happy to see so many riders out in support of a sustainable and environment friendly mode of transportation which is sadly not yet as popular in L.A. But we hope the healthy trend will grow more in the coming years. We look forward to the next ride and hope that you will all join us!