ROCK Coffee House on Townsend Avenue started as a way to bring the Eagle Rock community together, manager Zachary Martires said.
“The philosophy is that we want to be a place where people can come and be nurtured by community,” Martires said.
According to Martires, the coffee shop started as ROCK Teen Center, and is now a flourishing community center with a coffee shop attached. Martires said the rise of technology makes it particularly important to have places like ROCK Coffee House and Community Center.
“This place is actually mainly a community center,” Martires said. “It exists as a central third place for people. Some people come here for Zumba classes. Some people just come here for the coffee shop.”
Barista Richard Knapp said he has been coming to ROCK Community Center since he was in high school.
“[The coffee shop and the community center are] basically a collective,” Knapp said. “They’re like a package deal.”
According to Martires, he has also been coming to ROCK Community Center since he was young.
“I didn’t really have anywhere to go when I was 11 or 12 years old,” Martires said. “It was the beginning of the gentrification of Highland Park and Eagle Rock, and there was this element of delinquency reduction. So me and some other teenage kids would just come here. There wasn’t any complicated program. It was just ‘Hey, put your name in and go play Xbox.’ But for other kids, if they’re having trouble with homework, they had tutors.”
According to customer Gloria Gray, it is nice to see so many kids around while she studies.
“The kids don’t always buy stuff, which is nice,” Gray said. “Some places require you to buy something to hang out, but [ROCK Coffee House] doesn’t.”
A community fridge is located outside of ROCK Coffee House, in partnership with LA Community Fridges (LACF). The fridge opened in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic after LACF reached out to the coffee shop, according to Martires. The fridge was built and is maintained by LACF, Martires said.
“During [a] time of continued food scarcity, [LACF] wanted to open a fridge by [our] location, because [they] know [we] do community things,” Martires said.
According to Knapp, ROCK Coffee House strives to be an open and welcoming place.
“That’s the […] reason for the community fridge outside, so that the less fortunate [can] get [the] food that they need,” Knapp said.
According to Martires, large trucks full of extra food — which he said he believes come from local grocery stores — sometimes come to refill the fridge.
“The fridge’s philosophy is leave what you don’t need, take what you need,” Martires said. “A lot of it is filled by community members.”
According to Martires, ROCK Community Center was started by a group of church leaders from several different churches. While neither coffee shop nor the community center is affiliated with a specific church, both the neighborhood of Eagle Rock and a Bible verse inspired the name, Martires said. This Bible verse, which is seen in a poster on the wall of the coffee shop, is that of 1 Corinthians 10:4, “and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
“A bunch of church leaders […] came together and said, ‘[This community center] is an important place that communities need to have,’” Martires said.
According to Martires, individuals can rent out ROCK Community Center for events. He said one recent partnership they started is with the social club Nightcap Collective.
“[Nightcap Collective] wants to do more decentralized community events that are broad in nature, and we’re going to be starting that in the fall,” Martires said.
Starting Oct. 7, Nightcap Collective will be hosting Monday Craft Club, Tuesday Club Trivia and Wednesday Board Game Hang at ROCK Community Center. According to Melissa Spolar, the owner of Nightcap Collective, she appreciates ROCK Community Center’s dedication to the surrounding neighborhood.
“There are not a lot of public venues totally structured for people to come solo and meet people,” Spolar said. “The layout was really what I was looking for, […] and it was awesome that it was someone who understood the passion to be the community hub.”
Knapp said one of his favorite parts of being a barista is the people he gets to meet, from celebrities like actor Erin Sanders and filmmaker Jennette McCurdy to regulars and newcomers alike.
“When you get a really nice person that’s like ‘Oh, I’ve never been in here before,’ […] I think that’s better than us seeing a celebrity,’ Knapp said.
Knapp said he feels a sense of community when welcoming customers into ROCK Coffee House.
“It’s just nice,” Knapp said. “I think everyone in the world deserves a place where they can feel safe, and we try to be that.”
Contact Quinn Sumerlin at sumerlin@oxy.edu
