What’s brewing in Chinatown: a microguide to four unique coffee bars

Chinatown today is a neighborhood in flux, a place of cultural collision with new energy, new entrepreneurs, and cultures from around the world. But its history goes back generations and there remains a clutch of iconic bakeries, restaurants, cafes and lounges that blanket the landscape between the L.A. River and North Figueroa Street, from Phoenix Bakery (opened 1938) to Philippe (in its current location since 1951).

You’ll need a cup of coffee to take it all in. Happily the many-splendored neighborhood is here to oblige.