Ladera Central abuzz with a magical energy

On a Tuesday afternoon at Starbucks -- the Magic Johnson-owned Starbucks in the Ladera Center, to be exact -- Michael Williams, a fitness consultant and editor of the Baldwin Hills newspaper, sits at his usual spot, on the southeast side of the cafe near the window. It’s his makeshift office from about 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

His laptop computer and miniature printer are atop a round table, and various newspapers, books and other items are strewn across four chairs. In lieu of the solitude of his home office, he prefers this environment, a homey atmosphere where people work and study to smooth jazz tunes over the whirl of drink machines. The genius of Starbucks, after all, is about being alone without being alone.

With his headphones on, he’s typing feverishly, working on several projects, including a book “about the happenings that are going on here. You see a lot of things -- fights, and people getting busted next door,” he says, referring to Magic’s other establishment, T.G.I. Friday’s. “How women wear skimpy clothes and it’ll be 50 degrees out there,” he says with a laugh, adding, “You can tell the people who come out of their way to come up here.”

The Magic-owned franchises have become quite a spectacle -- and not just because of the press that the enterprises, top grossers in their chains, have received.

Part community center, part social club, the scene around Friday’s and Starbucks has indeed become the place to be for the upwardly mobile buppies and other working stiffs from the surrounding areas of Mid-Wilshire, Crenshaw, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Ladera Heights, Inglewood, Westchester and Culver City.

Though some criticize the vibe as being just as pretentious and snobbish as it is on the Westside, those who frequent these venues say it’s a melting pot that is definitely more soulful, and unapologetically a black thing.

“The eye candy is nice,” says 34-year-old independent filmmaker Ron Hightower, who started coming to Starbucks a couple of years ago to play chess and to network. “I personally call this place the pond. It’s a great place to go fishing.”

Caught anything lately? “It’s like, when have I not?” he says.

There’s always something going on here: chess players playing for hours; the Sunday afternoon motorcyclists who park and hang; poetry on Wednesday nights; entrepreneurs or “freelancers” who come to network and have meetings; cigar smokers who pontificate on current events; and the profilers -- “flossers,” as Williams calls them -- who hang out at Friday’s on the weekends.

“We’ve got strippers and pimps, porn stars and actors, policemen, marshals and sheriffs, deputies, athletes, preachers, teachers, doctors and lawyers -- everything. Even Pat Boone was up here about three years ago,” says Williams, who has become a fixture at this Starbucks since it opened in March 1998 and has garnered the nicknames “Lawrence of Ladera” and “The Sultan of Starbucks” because of the turban-like do-rag he wears.

Patrons come together in well-kept facilities to just be themselves, be it a 21-year-old hip-hop head in a baggy warm-up suit, or a 32-year-old woman who works in entertainment and enjoys watching the parade of available men, who at either venue outnumber the women by as much as 13 to 1. Some women come specifically because their odds of meeting a man are better than at any of the black mega-churches, dance clubs or organized social gatherings such as the Black Knights.

But the scene has also drawn the unsavory “local meat market” label. “It’s really not a pickup place,” Friday’s general manager Moe Rajkot says. “We don’t let people walk up to tables with women and pick them up in our restaurant, but in a bar, it would be hard-pressed for us to discriminate against that. It’s a bar, but the restaurant we conduct as a restaurant.”

“It’s just like one big meeting place and one of the few decent spots to hang out in the neighborhood,” says Patricia Hudson, 32, a service representative for Pacific Bell, sitting at the bar with a group of friends. She’s been coming to Friday’s since it opened in November 2000. “I love it here during basketball season for the Lakers games. There’s a core group of us who are regulars, and that’s what we come here for, just to watch the games and have a good time.”

Then there are those who come to people-watch. Friday night at Friday’s bar is prime hang time. The restaurant area is still a family space, but in the bar, singles and couples gather to watch the games on television and socialize. By 9 o’clock, more than 400 people are already inside -- a “slow night,” according to Rajkot, who says weekend attendance is typically double this.

A line forms around the patio area and into the parking lot, with people waiting up to an hour to get inside, and on a recent chilly night it seemed that one young woman, shivering in her black strapless evening gown and red high-heeled sandals, just wanted to get warm.

The regulars have dubbed it Club Friday’s, says Felishia Lewis, who has worked as a bartender on the weekends there for three years. “A lot of times you don’t want to do the whole club thing -- put on the heels and pay 20 bucks. But you come here, and it’s the same thing minus the dancing. And our prices are low, so you can come here every week, or twice a week.”

Weekends at Ladera really kick off on Wednesday evenings at 7 with the poetry slams at Starbucks, which are unique to this store. The two-hour amateur sessions are pulled together and hosted by Sandra Coleman, MsTmuze and Alice the Poet, former headliners at Leimert Park’s 5th Street Dicks.

The shows feature performance artists from all over L.A. and Orange County and draw audiences of up to 200 people. Outside, it’s standing room only, unless you don’t mind sitting on the pavement.

“This is an environment where there’s a lot of love, a spiritual depth and understanding,” says 26-year-old Asian American poet Garry Sun, who performs under the moniker Prophesy. “I think it’s a great thing, and there needs to be more of this around Los Angeles.”

*Magic’s scene

Magic Johnson’s Friday’s

Where: 6712 La Tijera Blvd., L.A.

When: Dining is first come, first served. Open Monday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m.-

midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.

Info: (310) 337-1143

Magic Johnson’s Starbucks

Where: 5301 W. Centinela Ave., L.A.

When: Open Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday-

Saturday, 5:30 a.m.-midnight

Info: (310) 338-1297