Bevel Coffee Opens in Altadena: First New Storefront Since the Eaton Fire
The scarlet macaw painted on Bevel Coffee’s front window faces Allen Avenue in Altadena, California — the national bird of Honduras looking out on a neighborhood still rebuilding from the worst wildfire in Los Angeles County history.
Last week, Kevin Mejia opened his first permanent café at 1864 Allen Avenue, a 600-square-foot space in a former photography studio that survived the Eaton Fire. It makes Bevel one of the first new storefronts to open since January 2025, when the blaze killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures across Altadena and the surrounding foothills.
For Mejia, the timing carries weight. “Bittersweet” is the word he’s used — a new chapter for his business built in the shadow of a community’s loss.
From Pop-Up to Permanent
Mejia’s path to specialty coffee started in 2022, when a home roasting hobby turned into something more serious. By September 2023, he’d set up a semi-permanent pop-up inside Prime Pizza Altadena, serving his Honduran-focused coffees from a corner of the pizzeria. The arrangement worked. Bevel built a following.
Then the fire came.
The Eaton Fire didn’t destroy Mejia’s roasting operation — his 3-kilo Mill City Roasters machine still sits in the two-car garage of his nearby home — but it wiped out an estimated 70% of his customer base through displacement. Families who used to walk over for a cortado on Saturday mornings were suddenly scattered across Los Angeles, looking for temporary housing.
“We gave out drip coffee to whoever wanted to come and hang out while the ash was still in the air and the skies were black,” Mejia has said. The community that remained rallied behind the pop-up, and sales held close to normal. A $10,000 grant from the California Restaurant Foundation helped keep the lights on during the hardest months.
Honduran Roots in the Cup
Mejia was born in the United States to Honduran immigrant parents. His fiancée is also first-generation American. For both of them, coffee from Honduras isn’t just a sourcing preference — it’s a way to share their heritage with their guests.
The café’s current offerings include beans from Honduras’ San Vicente region, sourced through importers like Hacea Coffee Source, Ally Coffee, and Unravel Coffee Merchants. Mejia seeks out smaller, underrepresented producers. A recent Guatemala offering featured a washed Pacamara from Stuarto Coto at $25 a bag; an Ethiopia Aricha Adorsi shares the shelf at $21. The Extinction Burst espresso blend anchors the drink menu.
“I’m always trying to find beautiful, nuanced, unique offerings,” Mejia has said. Honduras is the starting point, but not the limit.
A Space for What Comes Next
The new café is bright — white walls, round pendant lighting, natural wood shelving, a long bench seat running beneath the large front windows. The photography studio that previously occupied the space left behind good bones and high ceilings. Pastries come from Bakers Kneaded, a Los Angeles commissary; bagels arrive from Mustard’s Bagels in Culver City. Breakfast burritos and sandwiches fill out the grab-and-go case.
Mejia has plans for a 15-kilo roaster to support wholesale expansion, but he’s not rushing it. Right now, the priority is showing up and making the new location work.
Why This Matters
Opening a specialty coffee shop is a gamble in normal times. Opening one in a community still grieving, still clearing debris, still waiting for permits and insurance settlements — that’s something else.
Bevel Coffee’s presence on Allen Avenue is small and specific: one roaster, one café, a couple hundred square feet of space. But in Altadena right now, a new business that opens its doors is also making a statement about the future. It says the neighborhood is still here. It says people are staying.
The scarlet macaw faces the street. The coffee is roasting. The threshold has been crossed.