Specialty Coffee Bar Intelligentsia Tackles the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Speciality coffee shows absolutely no signs of slowing down in Los Angeles, despite its proliferation across the city. From one-off small businesses like Highlight Coffee to big-name players like Blue Bottle, more and more shops are popping up everywhere from Hollywood to La Cañada Flintridge. Case in point: Intelligentsia’s bold new take right on the Walk of Fame, open as of this morning.

As one of the first third-wave shops to hit LA’s shores years ago, Intelligentsia quickly became a standard-bearer with locations from Pasadena to Silver Lake to Venice. Since then the Chicago-based company — now mostly owned by coffee mega-company Peet’s — has focused on maintaining quality, training up new generations of staff, and quietly revamping its storefronts, even as the competition has exploded. Now they’re back in growth mode.

The new Standard Architecture-designed Hollywood location has been seven years in the making, and comes with a collaboration with Instagrammable bakery Mr. Holmes Bakehouse. Inside there’s a delightful scooped red ceiling, mauve bespoke espresso machine, and plenty of room for retail bags. There’s a drink rail that looks out onto the street, and a large and shaded front patio to boot. As for the menu, expect the usual drip and espresso drinks as well as a variety of cold brew coffees and teas on tap. The Mr. Holmes pastries swing from a goat cheese and lox seeded bagel to sandwiches to a dipped matcha croissant.

Intelligentsia Hollywood is open as of today, keeping hours from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Intelligentsia Hollywood. 6401 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.

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