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Frieda went to a block on South Beverly Drive, ‘tween Gregory and Charleville, where caffeine is alive! She wanted three different experiences but she didn’t want to go far. She’d go on foot or by scooter--but never by car.

At Peet’s Coffee & Tea, same-sex clerks served chai lattes around to cell-phone-toting toddlers, AA members and laptop writers profound.

At Starbucks, fresh-faced hopefuls brewed espresso, she learned, for Hollywood agents, ancient locals and foreign couples, in turn.

At the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, she spied rugged, twinkly-eyed hunks, stockbrokers, high school students and smoking dog owners in funks.

Cranked up on caffeine, Frieda’d gone just a few feet: to think that three chain coffeehouses all happen on a short Beverly Hills street!