Dirty Latte Co. has swapped its coffee cart for a permanent storefront, opening its first brick-and-mortar café inside the Water Garden office campus in Santa Monica. The 800-square-foot shop sits in the 26th Street lobby at 1620 26th Street and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., serving the campus's signature Ube Leche alongside other specialty drinks.
The café marks the latest step in a years-long build-up for founder Guy Blanco, who launched the Los Angeles-based specialty coffee brand in 2022 with a coffee cart and, as WhatNow reports, an idea for a fun, approachable alternative to traditional coffee shops. Blanco set up that first cart at Water Garden about a month after starting the business, and he's said the campus felt like home, with support from regular customers helping the brand grow. He wanted to combine specialty coffee with culturally inspired flavors in a distinctive brand, and the menu reflects that: alongside the Ube Leche, a customer favorite, Dirty Latte Co. serves Matcha Mami, Strawberry Matcha and Banana Matcha, with a full menu and online ordering available through dirtylatteco.square.site.
From a Pandemic-Era Cart to a Permanent Storefront
Dirty Latte Co.'s arrival at Water Garden dates back to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the campus's marketing team was focused on bringing energy, convenience and fun back to a workplace emptied out by lockdowns. Per the same account, the coffee cart was, at the time, the only dedicated coffee concept at Water Garden, filling a need tenants wanted and needed. Dirty Latte Co. has sold coffee at the property before in other formats too — the brand's coffee was available for purchase at Water Garden's Cars & Coffee event on August 17, 2023, according to SM Mirror.
That early cart eventually grew into a truck and now a permanent retail location, a progression WhatNow's report frames as the kind of organic growth Water Garden's team looks to foster. Property representative Bess Wyrick said the campus is looking for retail concepts that are useful and relevant to both workers and nearby residents, with the broader goal of becoming a vibrant neighborhood destination rather than a traditional office park. Blanco, for his part, has said a permanent location lets the brand offer its complete experience every day and gives customers a consistent place to find it, while giving people another reason to spend time on campus.
Water Garden's Push to Become More Than an Office Park
The Water Garden site serves a mix of office tenants, visitors, event attendees and regular customers throughout the week, and the property says it can host hundreds of people during a single on-site event. That mix is part of why Water Garden wants to stay active and engaging throughout the day, not just during traditional office hours, as the brand's expansion from cart to storefront illustrates.
Dirty Latte Co.'s debut lands amid a broader run of café and casual-eatery openings across Santa Monica. Downtown, Dragon Alley Coffee held a public ribbon-cutting in June at 312 Santa Monica Boulevard on the Third Street Promenade, described by the Santa Monica Daily Press as the latest business to debut as the corridor undergoes a slow-rolling revival that has also brought in Raising Cane's, The Win~Dow, Pop's Bagels and the Circle Bar. The roughly 1,000-square-foot specialty café was founded by Santa Monica residents Richard and Sage Chand along with partners Victor Garcia, Jostin Moller and Fernando Garcia.
More Cafés on the Way Across the City
The Santa Monica Daily Press has also reported on a wider wave of new cafes and casual eateries taking shape across the city. Sonia's Café is working to open at 1260 15th Street at the corner of Arizona Avenue, while DOL Coffee House, which currently serves boba and desserts in Gardena, is expected to open at 1231 Wilshire Boulevard. A second Santa Monica location of Italian gelato brand Bacio di Latte is planned for 1510 Montana Avenue, and La Diperie is eyeing a Santa Monica outpost that would mark the chain's first West Coast location.
At the 15-acre Colorado Center office campus, Bower Santa Monica is planned as a roughly 6,500-square-foot restaurant and community hub, though it has not announced a specific opening date beyond summer 2026. Against that backdrop, Dirty Latte Co.'s move from cart to storefront at Water Garden fits a pattern of office properties and commercial corridors alike betting on food and coffee concepts to draw people back onto their campuses and sidewalks.
