Santa Monica's Hidden Café Pairs Specialty Coffee With a Top-Tier VR Studio
A new coffee bar tucked behind a narrow alley off Broadway and 26th offers seasonal roasts alongside a working virtual reality theater, with both open to the public during and after business hours.
By Morgan Howard2 min read
Just off the corner of Broadway and 26th in Santa Monica, a slim alley opens onto a newly launched café called Goodboybob. Like plenty of other third-wave coffee spots, it features exposed brick, plenty of daylight, reclaimed wood, and a menu built around local ingredients. Yet the marble coffee bar is only half the draw: the other half is a virtual reality studio described as one of the finest in the country.
The project was realized by Erich Joiner, founder of Tool of North America, and reflects an effort to fuse the creative spheres of coffee and entertainment into a venue where culture, human connection, and art meet. Everyone who walks in can see the VR studio, and it is used actively both while the café is open and after hours.
Dunsmuir Institute Architects and fullBRANCH handled interior and exterior design and construction for Goodboybob, tying the shared space together through what amounts to a "temple of material senses"—old factory brick, marble mosaic, a hand-painted menu by the shop's brand designer Madeleine Ignon, and an old railroad wood trestle. A private lounge reserved for Tool employees, separated by glass panels and a blackened steel screen, sits in front of the VR theater.
Patrons are greeted by a large L-shaped walk-up bar finished in marble, and outside there is tiered seating in multiple levels where guests can settle in and talk. Although the café sits on a creative campus housing more than twenty production offices and over 500 employees, Goodboybob also serves the general public.
Goodboybob founder Erich Joiner.
According to Joiner, his aim in opening a coffee shop was to provide quality coffee and tasty food to the nearby community of writers, editors, and artists working in the surrounding offices, as well as to locals who live and work in the neighborhood. He adds that sharing the bar with the VR theater is enjoyable, and that Goodboybob can be a spot to grab a coffee and run into someone new. "I hope it will create opportunities for meaningful in-person conversation," he says.
Tyler Wells, a hospitality consultant and coffee specialist, was brought on to help advance and execute Joiner's vision for Goodboybob, while Ryan Fisher (Commonwealth Coffee Roasters, Progress Coffee) heads the bar program.
Selections at the bar will change with the seasons. The opening lineup features a house espresso, Colombia Valentía de los Pijaos, plus filtered options: Kenya Nyeri Gatuyaini, Rwanda Kanzu Lot 17, and Colombia Cauca Maria Magnolia Acosta. On the first Friday, a special brew will also be available: Guatemala Acatenango Geisha Lot 2.
Each Friday, the café plans to pour a special micro-lot as pour-over and espresso, among them geshas, Cup of Excellence auction lots, and single-variety lots from Ethiopia.
Beyond a full beverage list that includes seasonal teas from Song and nitro cold-brew, the café serves a food menu with breakfast and lunch selections, daily rotating sandwiches (with both meat and veggie choices) made on Gjusta bread, pastries from Sugarbloom Bakery, Noodle Jar (a step up from cup of noodles, as the shop frames it), and Almond Butter and Jam Toast built with Welovejam and Solstice Canyon Almond Butter.
