In the three years it existed in El Sereno, Antigua Cultural Coffee House established itself as an example of how to run a business that serves the community. Serving one cup of coffee at a time, Antigua’s following snowballed. People from all over LA would come to El Sereno to get a cup of Joe from the little shop that could. Many people loved that it offered free wi-fi, with great coffee and food. Some people loved it because of its fair trade policies, other people liked it because it was an open venue to hold meetings, art shows, recitals…you get the picture.
Even after a successful run, being featured in the Los Angeles Times, Tu Ciudad and Yelp!, among others, it fell victim to a bad lease agreement and had to close shop. In June of 2008 the doors were closed leaving a lot of people without a public place to gather.
Since then, Yancey Quiñones, has been working on his new shop in Cypress Park. (more…)