This is one of the many upcoming profiles of our neighbors in the Arts District of LA. It’s an area of Downtown LA that has seen a huge explosion of growth recently. Residents, creative business’, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs have been moving into this once sleepy district. Everyone living and working here are naturally bonded, there is a strong sense of ownership, a sense of looking out for each other and supporting each other here to make sure our community thrives. Once an area that was mostly manufacturing and warehousing, it’s now a mix of artist studios, restaurants, coffee roasters, bars, cafes, boutiques, lofts and a renowned architecture school. We are seeing it grow and it’s nothing but exciting.

Poketo has been operating from a loft here since 2007, right before many of the current business’ moved in, right around the time change was happening…and if you may or may not have noticed on our Instagram, Poketo will be opening its first brick and mortar right here in the heart of it all. But, more on that later.

This is Jeremy of District Millworks. He runs a custom fabrication shop here in the Arts District, specializing in acquiring and breathing new life to reclaimed wood from across the country. Whether it’s wood from railroad depots in Alabama, old barn siding, bowling lanes in Nebraska, or old homes that no longer have a life… that wood ends up here at District Millworks. It’s right here in this seemingly cavernous, endless warehouse that he and his team design furniture and objects for homes, retail, restaurants, and commercial properties. Their latest endeavor, that newly opened, much talked about UMAMIcatessen in Downtown LA.

We got a rad tour of District Millworks… or rather, we ended up walking aimlessly and getting lost in the myriad of rooms in this huge space.

A view into the open sky courtyard…

We stumbled into areas most people won’t see. If you do go and visit (and you should), you’ll walk through their storefront showroom and will be instantly surrounded by beautiful, handcrafted furniture, tables, beds, and even a playful swing hung from 20 + foot tall ceilings. District Millworks designs and fabricates all their pieces here. You can pick what you like from their showroom, or you can come in with an idea… they’ll help you envision it… they’ll make it come to life.

More at DistrictMillworks.com.

For real, vibrant, decaying, colorful, different, beautiful, growing, forever, ever changing… here in The Arts District.

We got an invitation from our friend and designer, Tanya Aguiniga to give a talk to her class at Otis College of Art and Design. We’ve worked with a handful of artists from Otis and have had many interns coming from this school who just rock our worlds. It was an honor to finally visit the campus and meet the students face to face.

Aftwards, we took a little tour of the industrial design and fashion departments. Always an inspiration to be immersed in student life…

The gentleman here was showing us one of his works in progress.

Angie checking out a bag exhibition.

Coming along handsomely… by the looks of these pics, Handsome Coffee has come a long way with their new headquarters in Downtown LA. There are some finishing touches in place already, but, also some majors that are waiting to happen. All in all, things are looking really good for an opening (hopefully) in the next several weeks. If not a hard opening, I know some parties are in the works. I know that we talk about Handsome alot, but, you know, when you get to know these guys and their coffee, you’ll understand.

Here is a pic of the front of the cafe currently. Down at the bottom of the post, is a “before” pic from November of last year.

While all of this is happening, Jesse and Lisa are holding down the fort serving up their blend of espresso in the back of the cafe. Jesse is a master. Lisa here is learning the craft. A former lawyer turned barista, she is chasing her dream of a creative life in the coffee biz. We love dream chasers, Lisa rocks.

Matt is the GC… going through the very complex blueprints for the Handsome operation.

I wish I knew all of the details of this roaster… but, what I do know is that it’s a 1956 Probat UG22 roaster that they tracked down (after a long search) in Belgium, restored, and imported over here. Like Handsome Coffee, it has the reputation to be the best, of course.

Details like this smoking pipe are laser etched in the surface of the walls of the cafe… one of many identity icons for the Handsome brand.

Here is the “before” pic of the Handsome storefront a few months back. They’ve come a long way.