A First Look at Stumptown Coffee’s New Downtown Los Angeles Cafe

The new Stumptown Coffee Roasters cafe at 120 E 8th Street, Suite #400, in the Downtown Los Angeles Fashion District. Photo by Carly Diaz, courtesy of Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The coffee border between Oregon and California has dissolved even further with the opening of Portland-based Stumptown Coffee Roasters‘ new shop in the heart of Los Angeles.

Opening today in the DTLA fashion district, the cafe is Stumptown’s 12th retail location overall and its second in Los Angeles, joining the company’s L.A. roastery cafe, which opened in 2013.

Photo by Carly Diaz, courtesy of Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The cafe’s most prominent design feature is a large, color-filled mural from Indiana-based artist Nathaniel Russell, who describes the scene as a kind of “peacable kingdom” and as a “scene from a time or place of balance and peacefulness on Earth.”

“The main elements of this work — the bird, the flowers and other plants, the cat, the comet — are seen in works of art throughout the ages and have meanings as symbols both traditional and personal,” Russell said in an announcement from Stumptown today. “I wanted this scene to be out of time, to be of any time.”

Photo by Carly Diaz, courtesy of Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The mural is augmented by natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows, while customers inside can hear the sounds of vinyl spinning from a collection of music curated by Mississippi Records, an independent record label whose longstanding retail store remains a beloved Portland institution.

The cafe’s interior offers seating for 30 patrons, and Stumptown plans to add an outdoor seating area this summer. A standard menu of espresso drinks, single-origin pourovers and various Stumptown cold brew offerings will be complemented by pastries from Sugarbloom Bakery and hot offerings with fresh ingredients from Winsome, both local suppliers.

Photo by Carly Diaz, courtesy of Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The company has announced that all opening day profits will be donated to the California immigrants rights organization CHIRLA, since today is also the March for Immigrants in DTLA.

Stumptown Coffee is now open at 120 E 8th Street, Suite #400, in Los Angeles. 

Photo by Carly Diaz, courtesy of Stumptown Coffee Roasters.