PRESS - LA TIMES - UP ALL NIGHT

By Emili Vesilind, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 24, 2008

Endo, a clothes designer from Berlin, and Midori Takata with dog Maya.

The reigning hub of slouchy east side cool isn't a weekly dance party or even a divey new bar, but a Sunset Junction coffee shop. Intelligentsia, the Euro-style cafe that opened last August in Silver Lake, hawks the smoothest lattes around but is also a fantastic people-watching perch. Hip young moms in vintage Levi's share the exposed, shaded patio (there's nowhere to hide here) with disheveled writer types and fashion-savvy boys and girls. The clothes may broadcast "I just threw this on," but we know better: It takes effort to look like a rock star/superstar B-boy/emerging author before 11 a.m.

No Uggs and college sweat shirts here. On a recent Saturday morning, the gals parked it on the patio in flats and well-worn leather boots, teamed with skinny jeans, short skirts (over thick tights) and knit beanies. Dudes rolled up to the long line at the counter in tight trousers, vintage-looking T-shirts and track jackets, their up-all-night look punctuated by mirrored aviators.

But the most ubiquitous accessory by far was the canine – with a pit bull, a little pack of Chihuahuas and a few sweet-faced mutts tethered in a row on a nearby fence. Stylish sisters Erin and Beth Armstrong moseyed to the cafe with Linus, their spotlight-seeking shepherd. "He loves to have his picture taken," said Beth Armstrong. He wasn't the only one.