Urth Caffe Opens New Doors at Barker Block

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Urth Caffe celebrated its new facility and cafe in the Arts District on Sunday with a grand opening, giving coffee, pastries and tours to a couple hundred guests invited VIP guests before opening the festivities to the public.

Urth is an LA-based organic coffee and tea house, with its own lines of each. This, the fourth Urth coffee shop, opened for business across from Barker Block Lofts three weeks ago.

Councilmember Jan Perry, of the neighboring 9th District, called the new space "a sheer work of art," and another step toward "rebuilding Downtown."

The facility, which houses the kitchen, bakery, and administrative offices for all the Urth Caffes (fresh pastries trucked out daily), replaces and expands on Urth's former location near the Staples Center.

From what visitors could see of it during the packed event, the new space is lovely.

The brick and wood used to construct the interior was all recycled from the pre-existing building, where designers cut out a corner to make the deck, and a colorful photography mural over the counter shows people and places all around the world where the organic coffee is grown.

Carol Schatz of the Downtown Business Improvement District was also on hand to applaud Urth Caffe as a new destination for Downtowners to build community. "You cannot bring a neighborhood back without a place for people to live," she said.

If you are interested in starting to "live" at the coffee shop, you should know that owners are expecting WIFI "any day now," and the cafe is both inviting and comfortably large.

Urth Caffe founders Shallom and Jilla Berkman's daughter, Golda, was on hand to cut the ribbon.