COFFEE CART LOS ANGELES
ESPRESSO • TEA • TREATS
ON LOCATION • ON SET
PRODUCTION CATERING
CRAFT-SERVICES
SPECIAL EVENTS
SERVING ALL OF
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
100% DONATION-BASED
#LIBERATEDCOFFEE
Direct all inquiries to info@cafablanca.com
Or send us details below and we will get in touch
WE ARE CAFABLANCA
Cafablanca got rolling in January 2020 to bring craft coffee and tea to special events and Film/TV sets
During the pandemic, we decided to operate as street vendors, serving 100% donation-based drinks and pastries outdoors to help keep our community safe.
It has been over 6 years and we have never charged anyone for a drink. Kindness fuels us. We fuel you.
We are inspired by the iconic style and anti-fascist sentiment of the classic American film, Casablanca
We believe that great stories and great art can change the world. Even great latte art.
So how did we get here?
A COFFEE BUSINESS
BORN OUT OF GENEROSITY
CAMERON (V.O.)
It was the spring of 2018. I was living in South Berkeley, slinging espresso shots in this little Americana café that had just opened up on the nearby Oakland border. One day a customer brought his empty mug up to my counter and set it down with a smile.
HENRY
Hey there, I'm Henry. Man, I gotta tell you...
that was a damn good cappuccino.
CAMERON
Aw, thanks. So glad you enjoyed it.
CAMERON (V.O.)
Honestly, I thought this guy was flirting with me, until he said--
HENRY
This is pretty random, but I'm trying to build this mobile espresso bar thingy.
CAMERON
Oh, that's cool!
Henry
Yeah, but the thing is, I need to film a short video--
CAMERON
--I do film work.
HENRY
You do??
CAMERON (V.O.)
It was an understatement. I was bored behind that coffee counter, daydreaming of spending my days on film sets, wondering if I would ever find out if my great-grandfather made a movie poster for Casablanca.
HENRY (CONT.)
Do you think uhh, maybe you could help me out?
CAMERON
Let's roll!
CAMERON (V.O.)
So, I flipped the OPEN sign CLOSED, polished the espresso bar, set up some lights, and helped this perfect stranger produce a short video for what was to become a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Henry used donations to transform an auto-rickshaw into the west coast's cutest mobile café
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship
Neither of us knew then that fate would hand the keys over to yours truly
Or that I would drive this buzzy yellow buggy down to Los Angeles
And call it Cafablanca
COFFEE
IN A TIME OF CRISIS
I parked Cafablanca in Hollywood for the first time in January of 2020.
As we were setting up one of Cafablanca's first ever pop-ups, Kobe Bryant, his daughter and several others were killed in a helicopter crash only a few miles away. Devastated by the news, we located a nearby Kobe mural and passed out free coffee to a stream of mourning fans. This impromptu gesture led Cafablanca to land her very first paid gig, and it was even in her target market: serving craft coffee inside a production studio
It was a dream come true, but within weeks of our debut another tragedy forced us to slam on the breaks. COVID-19 changed our world overnight and ravaged our country's economy, healthcare system, and global standing. As for our catering plans? Those were kaput.
FINDING A NEW PURPOSE
Cafablanca had a lot of time to sit in the parking lot and think. During the pandemic, and in the uncertain years since, the need for real change and real justice has become a matter of life or death for everyone.
America is in dire need of foundational reforms. Crucial societal shifts can be brought about democratically, but only when we learn to communicate their benefits with broad, commonsense appeal.
Climate change is the clear and urgent humanitarian issue of our time, but that is not my fault, nor is it yours. There are 100 corporations responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That fact must be centered in all of our mitigation efforts.
America was founded by immigrants, and children belong with their parents. We demand the abolition of I.C.E, the protection of DREAMERS, and the preservation of due-process as a fundamental right in this country.
We must do whatever it takes to restore women's rights and bodily autonomy as law of the land. Yes, that includes equal rights & fair treatment for transgender women. Nobody is free until all of us are free.
Women's rights are human rights.
LGBTQ rights are human rights.
Immigrant rights are human rights.
The lives of refugees and asylum seekers matter.
Cruel policies shaped around xenophobia must end.
All forms of terrorism against innocent civilians are abhorrent and require our vigilance and condemnation, but we cannot solely focus on foreign threats to our safety. Gun violence and white supremacist domestic terrorism -which do tend to go hand-in-hand- pose a disproportionate threat to American communities.
All lives cannot matter until Black lives matter. Dismantling systemic racism is the only way forward.
We stand with the people of Ukraine. We stand with the women of Iran. We stand with the girls of Afghanistan. We stand with both Palestinian and Israeli families, and we stand against all tyrannical, imperialist, oppressive, and religiously extremist governments.
Americans have woken up to the utter hell of war, which unless defensive and proportional, amounts to state-sponsored genocide. We do not want to fund the bombing and starving of civilians, and opposing weapons sales to the Israeli government is not antisemitic.
That being said...
Discrimination towards, conspiracies about, and violence against Jewish people has exploded globally. In the same way that Republicans are culpable for their tolerance of neo-nazism under the red tent, Democrats must reckon with their own silence around escalating anti-Jewish sentiments, and tamp down on the horseshoe hatred of the left's loudest, most extreme fringe.
Social Media has become little more than a hotbed for disinformation and a slow drip assault on our collective psyche. These highly addictive echo chambers which monopolize our time, efforts, and attention are designed to keep us in a cycle of anger, harming us in ways that we can't even fully comprehend. We believe that everyone should think for themselves freely, and stay open to speaking to those who think differently. Some of the most productive dialogue stems from disagreement, and some of the most dangerous propagandists are the ones who share our sympathies.
America has 5% of the world's population yet 25% of the world's prisoners. The mass incarceration industry must end, and that starts with banishing for-profit prisons. Corporations should not be incentivized to cage us.
Legalize cannabis. Federally. Yesterday. Finally!
Defunding the police is a losing policy proposal. Ending police patrol? Now there's a policy plan with some teeth. Nobody likes to get pulled over, and most instances of police brutality stem from simple traffic stops. Firefighters aren't driving around looking for fires. Cops shouldn't drive around looking for crimes.
Fuck billionaires. Never fuck the trillionaire.
It is not possible for wealth that extreme to be acquired ethically.
We need to put a cap on capitalism.
We need to put a check on tech.
We need Artificial Intelligence to benefit humanity as a whole, not only the pocketbooks of shareholders.
The problems of our little 3 wheel coffee cart don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Somehow, we still believe that love, peace, and unity will persevere over hate, war, and division.
Cafablanca can see how most of our problems are a direct consequence of unrestrained financial greed.
We question how growing a business in today's economy can contribute to a more equitable future for all...