Los Feliz Coffee Shop Grinds to a Halt

The closing of L.A.’s oldest independently run coffeehouse Saturday was festive in a funereal sort of way. Candles burned and flowers stacked up outside the Onyx entrance, as patrons stopped in for a last cup of joe and to reminisce about what the place meant to them in its 16 years in the neighborhood.

To the regular night owls who stayed up sipping jet fuel-strength coffee till the wee hours of the morning, the Onyx was a home away from home. But to the landlord who terminated the shop’s lease in October, it was just another commercial space that held financial promise if rented to a more profitable tenant.

The coffeehouse has been a bohemian holdout in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Los Feliz, and area residents fear the space will be leased to Starbucks. The landlord could not be reached for comment.

“Things go in cycles in L.A.,” says Onyx founder John Leech, acknowledging the fading phenomenon of the independent. “Now it’s going to a more McDonald’s type of coffee house. McCoffee is coming in. That’ll probably die too. Maybe in 10 years we can come back with this theme and make it work again.”

Opening its doors in 1982, the Onyx was a cornerstone of the local art scene. According to Leech, it was “a community living room, a family thing, an art hang.”

Host to monthly art exhibits and poetry slams, the grungy coffee shop was not only a place to show work but also to create it. Beck and other local musicians got their starts performing there.

“It’s a massive loss to the art community,” says James Balsam, a regular since 1985. “I’ve never seen a place so dedicated to freedom of expression.”

Leech admits business had been slowing down recently. Initially it operated from 9 a.m. to 5 a.m. every day of the week, but in the last few years Leech scaled back the hours to cut costs.

Previously located next door to the Vista Theater, the Onyx moved to the Vermont Avenue space in 1988, but, Leech is quick to say, the Onyx is not moving this time.

“We’re closing. We don’t have a place to go.” As for Leech’s personal plans, he says, “I’m going to take my first vacation in eight years.”