Dayglow

Tohm Ifergan came off the road as a drummer in From Indian Lakes to open a Silver Lake cafe with his cousin Philippe, and a trademark dispute over their original name, Neon, drained their startup cash before they had sold a single cup. He built the shop around what he had learned pulling shots at Portola Coffee's Theorem bar in Costa Mesa: that a customer sticks around longer for a story about the bean than for another flat white.

The Silver Lake shop sits in a converted restaurant space the founders picked because it was cheap to build out, and it still reads that way: small, plant-filled, and lit with neon signage against a millennial-pink color scheme unique to this location. Bean bags line bright retail shelves on one wall and a tight run of cafe seating on another, with a patio out back that stays quieter than Sunset Boulevard traffic would suggest. The bar opened on a La Marzocco GS3 and Linea Mini on a shoestring budget, then Ifergan swapped in a Modbar system so the counter sits lower and staff can talk to customers across it instead of hiding behind a machine.