Groundwork Coffee Shop

The Groundwork mini-chain is the coffeehouse of choice among many of the city's coffee snobs, and this location is popular with the denizens of the arts district in Downtown. Most coffee shops of this ilk take great pride in their fancy equipment. However, Groundwork famously got rid of their $10,000 coffee machine, saying it didn't live up to the hype.
A few doors down is the Lost Souls Café (124 W 4th Street, 1-213 617 7006, www.lostsouls.com), which offers poor food, decent coffee and a roster of art shows and other evening events.