Sugar F.
Yelp
TL;dr I love the Brighton Coffee Shop.
A couple of months ago, a family friend called to let me know that The Brighton Coffee Shop had closed. My heart broke. We'd been coming here for lunch for about the past... I wanna say 20 years. We never went anywhere else. It was our spot. But he called a few days ago, practically elated, to let me know it had reopened, that they'd just been closed for remodeling! My heart mended. I returned today for the first time since the pandemic began, and I'm still melting with relief.
The Brighton is a unique feature of Beverly Hills, right on the SW corner of Brighton Way and Camden. In some ways it's as close as you can get to a sidewalk café in Paris. Other coffee shops in the area have sidewalk seating, but it's usually enclosed, not right on the sidewalk.
You're directly connected to the neighborhood, here. Nonstop foot traffic, which means nonstop people-watching, and it's a smorgasbord: tourists from every corner of the world, all dressed like they think you're supposed dress to blend in in BH, which can get ridiculous or be stunningly gorgeous; lawyers and other suits being important at each other; studio people impressing or intimidating each other, loudly going on about this show concept or that show runner and the studio higher-ups; the studio higher-ups themselves; medical techs in every color of the scrubs rainbow; and actual locals, often with their (mostly tiny, fluffy) dogs, not uncommonly with leopard print tops and Zsa Zsa's sunglasses.
And there's the other kind of people watching here: the tour vans and busses driving north on Camden seem to go by every five seconds. When they stop for the light at Brighton, they *will* stare at you and try to figure out whether you're famous. Stare back. Let them wonder. You can be a tourist watching the tourists while feeling like a local.
The traffic can get LOUD--there are plenty of new- and old-money kids revving their Bugatti and Ferrari engines because... cool? But it isn't like "CHRIST it's noisy here!" More like "pause the conversation and hold for the idiots," much more hilarious than annoying. The group of obnoxious kids walking by, probably coming from Beverly (Hills high school), will soon develop through the pupa stage and eventually emerge from their cocoons, likely to become said idiots and/or suits. It just hit me that a few decades ago, I was one of them! The place has been here since forever. [No, I never did the Bugatti or suit thing; I can only hope the idiot has worn off.]
And the languages! It's like the UN is around the corner. French and Russian at the other tables when I arrived, Mandarin and Farsi when I left. All of these people and languages pass by, wafting about 45 seconds of their lives over you, growing in volume then doppler-shifting away; half the time it's half a conversation with a pair of earbuds. People bump into each other on the sidewalk or yell "hi!" from their cars and promise to get together soon, almost as often as the tourist vans passing through.
And more often than not, you'll get treated to something offbeat: today, a guy in his late 60s, covered in (probably) actual diamond studs--from the watch to the earring to the necklaces--leaning out the window of his white Rolls, trying to get the ladies at the table next to me to go to Vegas with them "right now! I'm serious!" with a very Old New York accent. Ridiculous, but delightful.
And yet, with all this happening, there's something really homey about the place. It was a lot homier on the inside before the remodeling, lots of old wood and brass fittings. I can't lie, I'll miss that. You'll see in the photos, the place did lose a lot of its charm. But I rarely ate inside because man, it was CRAMPED in there! The real joy of the place is on the sidewalk. The inside has fewer tables now, so there's actually room to breathe. Everything's new and clean, but it still has charm. It can't not because it is where it is. It will develop more character over time.
I think what makes it continue to feel homey is the staff. Always friendly and professional. A lovely woman named Sarah has owned the place for about the past ten years--a total sweetheart. Talia served me today; she's new, but instantly made me feel like we'd known each other for years. I was there for a while, and another new server, Daniel, also really pleasant, filled me in on a few of the details of what's changed since the remodeling.
I almost forgot to mention the food. It's the cherry on top! Always good. All of it. If you haven't had the meatloaf here, you haven't lived.
There was a fantastic breeze today as the lunch hour drifted into closing time, and the large oak on Camden, wrapped in tiny Christmas lights year-round, dropped tiny leaves (mostly) on the awning covering the tables, and it was... just great. Really great.
I count myself lucky for having had the day off. And that the Brighton is back.
