On Thursday, February 2oth our friends and partners at Handsome Coffee Roasters will be celebrating their second anniversary with a block party event at their Los Angeles Arts District headquarters (582 Mateo Street). This event is free, and guests are asked to RSVP via email so as to keep things nice and legal. It’s also highly fortuitously timed, happening the night before the 2014 Big Western Regional Barista Championship, happening just blocks away at Lot 613.
You might expect such a soiree – Handsome’s turning 2! – to carry with it a good deal of merriment and sensory delights, and you’d be right. Attendees can enjoy food from a swarm of fine trucks, including Flatiron Truck, Free Range LA, and Guerilla Tacos (regarded by some as the best taco in Los Angeles). Guests of an appropriate age will also be able to imbibe fine beers from Golden Road Brewing (including the brewery’s brand new coffee beer collabo with Handsome), as well as cocktails from Pharmacie LA. And guests of all ages can try Sweet Clementine’s Popsicles and have the moment captured for all eternity by Smilebooth.
When we say block party, we mean it. The parking lot of Handsome’s cafe & roastery will be in full party takeover mode in the professional hands of Dart DJs. The music goes from 7 til late, with a one-hour guest set from DJ Sprudge beginning at 8pm.
Anniversaries are big. We reached out to Handsome co-founder and World Barista Champion Mike Phillips by phone, and asked him what 2 years meant to him.
“It’s a little hard to believe. I’ve been to these parties that other people throw – real coffee professionals that really own companies – and to me, this still feels half like a dream we’re walking through. It’s pretty amazing to think that we’ve been around working with all of these wonderful people and doing all these things for so long. This is a chance to step back and revel in that for a moment.
As much as we’re planning now and getting ready for it, this party is happening at a really fortuitous moment. The barista competition that weekend means we’ll be able to have so many of our good friends in town. It’s incredibly exciting to be surrounded by loved ones. A moment of reflection, that’s what this is. – Mike Phillips.
Whether native Angeleno or weekend interloper, you want to be at this party. RSVP by emailing rsvp@handsomecoffee.com. Express your enthusiasm via the #handsomeblockparty tag. And be sure to get one of those Guerilla Tacos before they sell out, because believe the hype.
