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The Anit-Starbucks: Santa Monica's The Novel Cafe
Popular among Santa Monica locals, find out what makes this coffee haven just so personal.
BY Rachel Rees
For L.A. Reads
PHOTO: Joan S.
An outside view of the Santa Monica shop.
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PHOTO: Cheryl C.
Inside the Novel Cafe, patrons find a warm environment for coffee sipping, writing, or cozying up to one of many novels stacked high into the cafe's walls.
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In the world of corporate coffee giants, smaller, more intimate coffee shops struggle for survival. Yet Santa Monica’s Novel Café is being kept alive not only by its legacy, but also by its local, dedicated patrons.
Miguel Garcia has been managing the Novel Café for over two years now. An LA local himself, Garcia calls the Novel Café his "baby" and insists that it would be "hard to duplicate."
The café, which opened nearly 14 years ago, was originally a bookstore. All that remains of its initial business are the towering wooden bookcases that line the walls, filled with a wide range of materials, anything from old text books to travel guides. When the original owner began serving coffee, coffee became the main business.
The Novel Café, according to Garcia, caters to a wide range of people. "Everyone gets treated the same. You get some movie actors here. One of the regulars is Michael Keaton. He’s here almost every morning. And nobody is like, can I have your autograph. Nobody bothers him."
Garcia attributes much of the café’s success to its customer service. "People come in and feel comfortable no matter what they do no matter who they are. For a lot of people this is like their second home. I’ve seen people who are here [almost] every day of the year ... and that’s rewarding."
Kimberly Berg doesn’t consider herself a regular. The twenty-something from Palms visits the Novel Café about once a week. "I like the environment—anything friendly to writers and students ... I’m at the Earth Café often, but this place is warmer."
Before Garcia took over managing the Novel Café, he was a Starbucks manager. Garcia explained how with Starbucks, there was a whole different environment. "Even if you are a manager you don’t have freedom to do much. Because everything is laid out—the way the store looks, the way the merchandise looks—whatever. You can just imagine how much freedom there is here."
Even before the novel café’s owners recruited him, Garcia says he liked the environment so much more because it wasn’t corporate.
"A lot of the customers here are so anti-corporate. They won’t even walk into Starbucks. And I understand why. We want everyone to feel comfortable and not feel like they have to buy a $5 venti triple mocha in order to fit in."
"It’s not like a Starbucks or some other mainstream coffee shops," explained James Porschen, a local photographer. "Most people that come here would be kicked out of a Starbucks."
Garcia says the Novel Café’s personality is what keeps it in business. "People say it’s a lot like Seattle, a lot like San Francisco," Garcia explained. "That’s what makes it here. That’s what people like. They come back and see the same people."
Under Garcia’s management, the café has incorporated the work of local artists. About four artists are featured a month on the walls of the café, and patrons are given the opportunity to purchase the works. Garcia says he loves it when the regulars have their work displayed.
Garcia also brought organic coffee and foods into the cafe, to keep up with the growing health trend. But he insists, "We haven’t changed the main feeling."
Despite the heavy influx of tourists on Santa Monica, Garcia says the Novel Café is more for locals.
"We do see some tourists [especially during the summer]. They’ll be walking down on Main Street but they don’t see us."
With such close proximity to the local colleges, as well as Santa Monica High School, students make up a large portion of the Novel Café’s patrons. Garcia, who received his bachelors in engineering from Cal State LA, says he used to do some of his own studying at the Novel Café.
There is a second Novel Café in Westwood Village, and though it is owned by the same family, Garcia insists "it’s not like this place." A third Novel Café, similar to the Westwood one, is scheduled to open soon.
The Novel Café is located at 212 Pier Avenue, off of Main Street in Santa Monica. For more information, call (310) 396-8566 or visit on the web at novelcafe.com. |
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