Groundwork Coffee

Richard Karno opened a small coffee shop and roastery on Rose Avenue in 1990, sharing the space early on with a rare book store before the roaster took over the building entirely. The room itself carries real history, a structure originally built around the turn of the century as a horse stable and carriage house for the local carriage trade before later serving as a catering business.

Groundwork became one of the first certified organic coffee roasters in Southern California in 1994 and has since grown into a Certified B Corp working with Regenerative Organic Certified coffee, a sourcing standard well ahead of when the shop first opened. The beans roasted here are now also sold at Whole Foods, Sprouts and Vons, reach that traces back to this single Venice room over three decades ago.