The Happiest Place on Earth is getting caffeinated, thanks to the impending arrival of global cafe behemoth Starbucks. The Seattle-based chain revealed Monday they are opening a location in each of Disney's six theme parks in California and Florida. more ›

Coming soon to a Starbucks near you: beer, wine and small plates. A Starbucks in Calabasas applied for a permit to sell beer and wine last week. more ›

Los Angeles, it looks like San Diego has beat us to the new Starbucks buzz. And we're okay with that. In January, the coffee giant announced plans to serve booze at a handful of SoCal locations by the end of 2012, and Starbucks confirmed today that the first local spot to start pouring alcoholic beverages is a cafe in San Diego's Coronado. more ›

SoCal Starbucks fiends will soon be able to get a different kind of buzz from the coffee giant. While the company already offers beer and wine at some of its stores in the Pacific Northwest, Starbucks announced today that a handful of Southland locations will serve said alcoholic beverages by the end of 2012. more ›

This could be great news for Los Angeles, or double the hurt: Dunkin' Donuts has (re)announced they plan to double their U.S. locations over the next two decades. But whether any of those locations will be in Dunkin' Donuts-denied Los Angeles remains to be seen. more ›

An SUV crashed into a Ventura County Starbucks on Tuesday night, killing one man and injuring two other patrons. The driver, Michael Cedarland of Pasadena, lost control of his vehicle and veered about 300 feet from the road and smashed into the building around 7pm. The victim, Sergio Mendez, 30, was pinned between the vehicle and the front door frame. more ›

Police are searching for more victims in connection with the William Velasco case, the 25-year-old San Dimas man accused of putting a hidden camera disguised as a coat hook across from a toilet in the women's restroom at a Glendora Starbucks, notes LA Now. more ›

Celebrate your love of planet earth and caffeine dependency* today with a free cup of brewed coffee or tea, hot or iced, from participating Starbucks. The catch: You gotta bring your own receptacle in which to catch the liquid. Okay, they aren't throwing it at you, they're pouring it into your reusable mug or tumbler, which you are bringing into a Starbucks to collect your freebie. more ›

If you are as devoted to Foursquare as your daily cup of coffee from Starbucks, you might want to get in on a promo the two companies have teamed up for in honor of the coffee spot's 40th anniversary. Starbucks will be awarding $40 gift cards at random to customers who follow the brand on Foursquare, and check into a location today. more ›

This week, Californians had their first chance to order up an iced tea or coffee at Starbucks and supersize it. The new Trenta cold beverage size, all 31 ounces of liquid insanity (more fluid than the average human stomach can hold), has, however, a great recyclable use: Wine holder. more ›

Okay size queens, Starbucks has seven ounces of good news for you: On February 1st, Californians can order up a new even-bigger drink size at the ubiquitous coffee chain, according to KTLA. The "Trenta," named for the Italian word for "thirty," is a 31 ounce-r, up seven ounces from their "Venti," and only available for a select few beverages: iced coffee, iced tea and lemonade drinks. more ›

Smokers, and smoking supporters, put a big red circle on your calendar on March 8th, because that's the first day of enforcement for a ban on smoking on outdoor eating areas in the City of Los Angeles. The motion, first introduced in 2008 by Councilman Greig Smith, and seconded by Tom LaBonge, will see to it there will be no second hand smoke with your meal on outdoor patios of establishments where food is served. more ›

Your daily cup of store-bought Starbucks brew just got a little nekkid, thanks to a logo redesign released today by the global coffeehouse powerhouse. Like any lady reaching the big four-oh, it was time for a bit of a makeover. The mermaid is bigger, and, apparently, like most of the half-dressed Hollywood celebutantes who carry her around in their skeletal hands while the paparazzi pounce, so easily recognized she doesn't need to say who she is. more ›

At the "Starbucks of the future," things could be less "Tommorowland" and more old-school cafe. The multi-national chain has just opened a prototype location in its base city Seattle that could change the face of your neighborhood 'bucks in the coming years, according to USA Today. more ›

What is being described as a "hostage situation" has the area of Pico Blvd. at Robertson locked down to traffic. Based on some accounts from people near the scene, the incident involves is near the Starbucks at 8783 W. Pico [map] which has since been shut down. more ›

In the 1990s, coffeehouse culture found consumers embracing the $3 latte, loitering on mis-matched furniture in dimly-lit rooms where poets, artists, and, of course, writers, sat for hours nursing their espresso. Then came Starbucks, now a multi-national institution, and it holds to this day that, especially in Los Angeles, on any given day a location's tables are laden with the laptops of would-be screenwriters, bloggers, and college students, next to cooling cups of coffee. more ›

Los Angeles, for all that it has to offer the late night set in the way of tacos, deli meats, dancing, and beautifully vacant streets, can’t seem to find it in its heart to make a goddamn chai latte past 11pm. Why? There are more than enough night-owl neurotics with script deadlines (or even term papers due) that you’d think every third Starbucks would be open around the clock. Yet there are vast swaths of our fine city that go dark to couture coffee culture once the clock chimes over to a new day. more ›

LA Times photographer Jay L. Clendenin shows us why it's important to "drop, cover and hold," as earthquake experts tell us. Yes, this photo (see it, and others, in large here) shows a shard of glass on a chair at a Starbucks at Hawthorne and Artesia boulevards. Another photo shows broken glass from a North Long Beach storefront on the sidewalk. more ›

Already anointed by many as a star in the making, even though the release of her self-titled debut album is still months away, Toronto born singer/songwriter Anjulie proved worthy of the early accolades with a first-rate 40 minute performance Wednesday night. more ›

If you are a decaf coffee drinker* and you like to grab your jitter-free java at Starbucks, get ready to cut your consumer hours...or up your wait time. The world's largest coffee chain has announced plans to save some bucks--"$400 million by September," according to USA Today--by having brewed decaf sitting ready only until noon. After noon, customers who want a cup of decaf will have to request it and sit tight; a 'bucks spokesperson said "it takes about four minutes to brew up a fresh cup." The stores wind up wasting product by brewing pots of decaf continually since the demand decreases in the afternoon, and these days, even for the coffee maven, saving a few bucks can go a long way. (*Seriously, what's the point?) more ›

Many businesses and institutions will be closed around the nation and in Los Angeles tomorrow in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Although most people are perfectly pleased to spend the third day of a three-day weekend lolling about in bed, hunkering down in front of the television set, or enjoying some fun in our winter sun, there's a large-scale movement focused on making tomorrow about doing good for others and not just yourself. more ›

As you head out to get that cup of joe this morning, think about this: more ›

Starbucks is not doing so well, but McDonalds is (hey, cheap coffee!). And what is better than cheap? Free. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is doing an "open hours" of some sort which basically means complimentary 12 oz. holiday themed coffees, teas, lattes and expressos at all their California storefronts. If you plan taking them up, the offer is only good beween 5 and 8 p.m. tonight (but some stores are doing their own thang). more ›

People love free stuff. People have been asking about where the nearest Ben and Jerry or Krispy Kremes are. Now you know! Overheard at Starbucks..."I don't like coffee, but I do like FREE." more ›

There's a long--and growing--list of places who are offering freebies and treats to people who say they voted or who can show their "I Voted" sticker. Some places offering goodies include Starbucks (free cup of coffee), Krispy Kreme (free donut), O!Burger (free fries or cookies with any burger order), and the Colorado Wine Company (1/2 off wine), to name a few. This of course immediately produces some ire among those who voted by mail and didn't get a sticker and those whose citizenship/residency prohibits them from voting despite having political awareness; it's no fun to be left out, especially when we're talking free coffee and donuts! more ›

Now this is probably one of the coolest success stories of government communicating with the public efficiently. LA Fire Department Spokesman Brian Humphrey writes at their blog about overhearing a Starbucks Barista using Twitter to find out what passing fire trucks are up to: more ›

Dear baristas and coffee mixologists of LA: more ›

Ready for your morning cup of irony? There's a list and map of all the Starbucks closures on the website of a newspaper making quite a few cutbacks of its own. more ›