Drift Vol. 11: Los Angeles

Drift is a smart, well-designed, edgy magazine dedicated to coffee culture. Each semi-annual issue focuses on a different place, exploring the many ways coffee is enjoyed there.

For this look at Los Angeles, executive editor Bonjwing Lee makes the case that "What has long been a patchwork of disparate neighborhoods stitched together by freeways, boulevards, beaches, and canals... has in the past decade experienced an exciting renaissance of culture. Once a city dominated by old diners and taco stands, Hollywood haunts and chain restaurants, this sprawling metropolis by the sea is now also home to a rapidly diversifying independent restaurant and coffee scene."

Drift's writers explore that scene in articles on coffee shops in Los Feliz, Inglewood, New Chinatown, and Grand Central Market and elsewhere around the city. There are shops that cater to beach volleyball players, and others to surfers. A tour of coffee shops made famous in movies is followed up by an exploration of LA's alternative milk scene.

There's much more, rich with a sense of place and history. And gorgeously photographed.

Paperback. Color and black-and-white photography throughout.