“La Distinction” in LA

How do people distinguish themselves from other people in LA? It’s no longer possible through a Chanel bag, too many people showcase that. Kardashians, High School Girls, Yogies…who ever. Me too. BUT there is a better way these days. Coffee. Where to drink coffee, where to buy coffee. ect, It’s a serious thing and you need plenty of time for your coffee, until it arrives with a swan or a double swan made of milk foam. At Intelligentsia you will wait for a good half hour on Saturdays, you will wait in a line with other people who agreed also on waiting for that coffee up to an hour. (Parking is just 3 Dollars, so you buy a coffee for ten dollars.) You don’t  talk to people in the line, you don’t “chat”, it’s kind of “strictly verboten”, until you rave about to coffee with the person you brought to this place, and then someone next to you might say. “Are you an Aquarius? They always get so excited.” and you say “OMG! I AM an Aquarius! How did you know!” You can’t continue with that conversation, because you have to place your order. Please, focus. Concentrate. The guy behind the counter, who wears suspenders and clothes  from the 19th Century, to show his affection for the “Intelligentsia” in Russia (pre-revolution, the one from the first half f the 19th Century) will take your order and you have to be precise. You can’t joke about milk. You CANNOT joke about caffeine and you want to tell him he should learn from the italians (coffee arrives in 4 seconds, you chat, you flirt, you laugh, good vibes enter your brain.) You wait patiently until your coffee arrives and while you wait you look at chocolate for 20 Dollars, that has some strange fruit in it, you have never wanted to taste, but it’s 20 Dollars, so people eat these things. You wonder who exactly eats that chocolate and who secretly spits it out under table, because of the strange fruit. Maybe Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan of this chocolate, at least she pretends to be. It’s not a chocolate to indulge, it’s a chocolate that will tell you, you are on the right path, in general, socially, politically, spiritually. And else.  Oh, your coffee has arrived and for a split second you would like to tell the guy behind the counter his jeans remind you of Leif Garret in the 70s, but he certainly was not a member of the Intelligentsia, so you forget about it and sip your first coffee sip. It’s a little too strong, like someone wants to teach you a lesson and hits you very softly on your cheek to remind you, that you belong to a special tribe, the Intelligentsia. You see the member of your tribe outside, looking at IPads and Apple Computers. They have stuff to do, they can’t chat. Sorry. And you should have stuff to do as well, which the coffee tells you. Intelligentsia is a harsh place. Catholics won’t feel at home. But the coffee is amazing.