The Cahuenga Curse has taken yet another victim: Demitasse Coffee Roasters. What was the fourth location of the coffee shop chain (with still operating locations in Little Tokyo, Santa Monica, and Mid-City) lasted less than a year in Hollywood, despite being its most ambitious undertaking yet.
The Hollywood address offered more than just coffee, with a full slate of wine, craft beer, and food to boot. Sadly they closed around the holidays, and have since been removed from Demitasse’s website altogether. Reached for comment, owner Bobby Roshan says:
I'm so heartbroken about our Hollywood location. We were perhaps too ambitious in our vision for a space that served really great, unique foods and natural wines alongside the tasty, brewed to order coffees we're known for all under one roof.
Apparently the coffee house still plans on opening on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, as the website says it is coming soon. They’re focusing energies on that opening in the first quarter of 2017, but won’t be nearly as ambitious as Hollywood.
Sadly it’s not anywhere close to the first time a restaurant has closed on the Hollywood stretch of Cahuenga. The street’s sky-high rents have taken many a concept, albeit a pretty dense cluster of office buildings and the wandering tourist crowd should seemingly keep the strip afloat. It’s a shame Demitasse couldn’t hold on, as the quickly approaching opening date of The Dream Hotel, Tao, and Beauty & Essex right across the street should hopefully work wonders to revitalize the ‘hood.