Coffee Cartel

★★★★★

A two-story building with outset window nooks on the upper level and full-height windows below. Low shrubberies separate the windows from the sidewalk, and wrap around the bases of the brick pillars supporting the upper level. An open walkway runs back from the sidewalk below the end of the building, with round tables and wicker chairs glimpsed behing a low tree with yellow flowers that's wrapped itself around the brick post at the near corner. Two people can be seen at a table inside, though the reflection of an outside shade umbrella above them. On the cross-piece above the walkway and outside tables, the words COFFEE CARTEL are spelled out in a plain sans-serif font. The kind of neighborhood coffee house that actually feels like it’s part of a neighborhood. Community bulletin boards, bookshelves, sometimes local art. And a little bit of everything: coffee, tea, pastries, smoothies, and boba. (I don’t know how long they’ve had boba - I just noticed it for the first time on the menu last week.) Offbeat and home-y despite its spot at the end of a row of trendy restaurants. (And it’s been here longer than most of those!) Decent amounts of both indoor and outdoor seating, all of it in WiFi range. The kind of atmosphere that makes you want to hang out there.

Most of the street parking has been converted to outdoor dining for those nearby restaurants, but it’s a very short walk from the metered parking lot across from Trader Joe’s.

The same building seen from the side. The roof slants up diagonally away from the street. Behind it (to the right, in this view) the building opens into a three-sided courtyard, with wooden stairs up to the second level where more storefronts or small offices can be glimpsed. COFFEE CARTEL is also emblazoned above the walkway on this side, and a hedge separates the walkway from a small parking lot, where several cars are parked.

Located at 1820 S. Catalina Ave. – Redondo Beach, CA 90277 US

View on OpenStreetMap.