Alana's Coffee Roasters
It’s not a surprise by now that I’m a sucker for a good entrepreneurial love story in the city. I love the actual love stories, like Primo Passo and Huckleberry Cafe, but also, creative love stories. When two people meet, share their love and passion for something, and successfully fulfill the dream together. The African proverb says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” and it’s these stories, like Alana’s Coffee Roasters, that prove that ancient truth. Alana’s Coffee Roasters from the outside looks like just another eclectic, ‘Mar Vista located but Venice wanna-be’ coffee shop. Hip, frustratingly small, and all the speciality coffee you could ask for. It’s not until you peek a little further into the layout and story you can see how unique this shop is.
Alana was founded by one such creative partnership between Eric Stogsdill and Erin Ward. After the duo had met, an idea was created to create a retail space that offered on-site coffee roasting in a Mar Vista neighborhood where the market seemed wide open. Having been involved in the specialty coffee industry for over 10 years, Stogsdill started his roasting venture out of his garage and began selling in Farmers markets all over West LA, Culver City and even Redondo Beach. With a loyal customer base, meeting Erin Ward was the next step to creating the brick and mortar we know and love now. As Stogsdill was carefully curating an excellent offering of roasted beans, Ward was able to raise the capital and recruit the right people to create this local micro coffee roaster company and warm neighborhood gathering space.
What once was a Chinese takeout restaurant, the renovations started in 2015 to create both an indoor and outdoor space and finalized in April 2017. In addition to the large seating area in front, the real gem of Alana’s Coffee Roasters is the inspiring back patio. Expansive yet cozy, the actual small RV positioned at the back of the patio is used as storage but makes you feel aesthetically like you are back home on the range. (Even if back home isn’t on the range, it stills feels like it.)
Whether it’s the sustainably grown seasonal coffee roasted on site in small batches, the sweet RV in the back patio, or just the patio accessibility in and of itself in a time of COVID restricted seating, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with Alana’s just as quickly as I did.