LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS
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The bloggers are coming, and other happenings Around Town.
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Your opportunity to buy a Fashion District building with a flexible future.
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
February 28, 2011
Volume 40, Number 9
INSIDE
Healthcare
Welcome to Coffee Row Sizable CoffeeBar Helps Turn Spring Street Into Caffeine Central
Urban Scrawl on Huizar-Martinez.
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How Bhutan is like Downtown.
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Signs of the times at the Wilshire Grand.
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photo by Gary Leonard
CoffeeBar, which opened last week, ups the caffeine ante on Spring Street. It serves espresso from a machine called the “Slayer.”
New restaurants are serving.
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L.A. Opera’s boffo ‘Turk in Italy.’
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by Ryan Vaillancourt
Spring St. It’s a 2,000-square-foot bean emporium that treats coffee more like fine wine than an evn most instances, the opening of a coffeehouse eryman’s morning wake-up beverage. It charges qualifies as a minor event. That’s not the case up to $7 for a cup and, aside from a small pastry with CoffeeBar, which stands out for two rea- selection, its menu is strictly tea and coffee. sons: its size, and its place in what is quickly be- The spot in the SB Tower isn’t the only one on coming Downtown’s “Coffee Row.” Spring Street offering quality caffeine to a growing page 9 Los Angeles population. Last Wednesday, CoffeeBar opened at 600 see S. xxxxxxxxxxxx, and affluent Downtown staff writer
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Distinction and Celebration Ritz/Marriott Named Project of the Year At Downtown News Awards by Richard Guzmán city editor
Getting hip at a Downtown museum.
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18 CALENDAR LISTINGS 20 MAP 21 CLASSIFIEDS
The stretch also includes the pint-size bean specialist Spring for Coffee, Syrup Desserts, which serves cups sourced by prominent roasters Intelligentsia and LAMill, and the stalwart L.A. Café, where the sidewalk tables are rarely without a patron sipping coffee. CoffeeBar is the latest venture by Michael Leko see Coffee, page 9
T
he 54-story Convention Center hotel was the tallest and brightest addition to the Downtown Los Angeles skyline in 2010. So it came as no surprise when the $900 million development was named the Project of the Year last week at the 10th annual Downtowners of Distinction Awards. The awards, presented on Tuesday, Feb. 22, by Los Angeles Downtown News, honored efforts that benefited their districts and Downtown in general. More than 300 people came out to the Los Angeles Athletic Club to celebrate highlights from the hotel to new restaurants to an injunction that cracks down on
drug dealers in Skid Row. Javier Cano, general manger of the 1,001room Ritz-Carlton/J.W. Marriott Hotel, accepted the prize on behalf of developer Anschutz Entertainment Group. “We’ve had a great reception by the local community,” said Cano. “The customers, the people who plan meetings and conventions have really great things to say about not only the hotel, but more importantly about Downtown. Downtown has really been the reason for the success of the hotel.” The 878-room Marriott opened last February, with the 123-room Ritz-Carlton coming online a few months later. The buildsee Distinction, page 8
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles
photo by Gary Leonard
Javier Cano, general manager of the $900 million Ritz-Carlton/J.W. Marriott Hotel, accepted the building’s prize as the Project of the Year at last week’s Downtowners of Distinction Awards.