Jurassic Magic (Coffee Shop) near MacArthur Park
Shan and Brian from Bicycle Meals told me about a new coffee shop near MacArthur Park. I knew things were changing around there, little by little. I'm not going to get into the political and gentrification issues but rather, I wanna talk about what it once was back in the 80's.
So in 1982, I enrolled at Otis Parsons School of Art and Design, which was on the corner of Wilshire and Park Plaza (now Charles White Elementary School and houses LACMA's auxiliary gallery). I spent my life around this neighborhood for four years and while i want to say it's changed, there's more that seems the same to me than not. Otis has since moved to Westchester.
Jurassic Magic is located in the building that McManus and Moragn Art Supply used to be in. In fact, it is in the space next door to the former art store. Chiounard Art School was also in the neighborhood once upon a time. On the other side of the park on 6th Street where the Mexican and Guatemala Counsulates are was another artstore, HG Daniels which became Standard Art Store which are also both long gone. It's now an empty space with an entrance to the back. McManus and Morgan sold Otis paper, which they developed for the drawing department at Otis. To the east of Jurassic is Aardvark Letterpress. There's also an art program in the park. All to say that there's still very much the creative DNA in tact in this neighborhood.
Back in the 1980's, Radiotron was about two blocks east (the birthplace of the LA Hip Hop scene). The park was developing its art in the park program which Al Nodal was spearheading. Al was the Otis Main Gallery Director and was just a couple of years away from becoming the General Manager of LA's Cultural Affairs Department.
Today, there's change in the neighborhood which has been brewing for decades but perhaps has accelerated due to the anticipations of the Olympics. Otis is gone but when I walked into Jurassic, there was a distinct young creatives clientele in the shop. For a moment, it was as if Otis aas back in the neighborhood but that was my personal mirage.
Finally, Jurassic Magic's Washington coffee shop is near my house and I've frequented it several times. So this place felt semi-familiar.
On this day, i ordered the coffee cocktail, Bright Eyes. It's a delicious cold brew with mint and oat milk that I thoroughly enjoyed. Noah told me they haven't advertised yet. They want to ease into the neighborhood and settle in, have the neighborhood dictate the future of the shop. I'm sure the art gods heard him.
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