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<\/p>\nCoffee and safe haven: Inside the Skid Row cafe run by formerly unhoused women <\/p>\n
Robert Garrova takes us to a cafe started by the Downtown Women’s Center.<\/p>\n
There are very few options to grab a cup of coffee and sit for a bit in downtown L.A.\u2019s Skid Row. That\u2019s in stark contrast to some of the bougie areas of downtown, where you can throw a rock and hit a four-dollar-a-cup coffee place.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s one cafe that\u2019s steadily served the Skid Row community for over a decade.<\/p>\n
Walking into Made by Downtown Women\u2019s Center Cafe and Boutique feels like walking into any non-chain coffee shop you might have come across downtown. There are smiling baristas, tables to work at and a glass case filled with pastries from Homeboy Industries.<\/p>\n
But this coffee shop is different: it\u2019s staffed and run by women who are transitioning from homelessness<\/p>\n
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Women like LaShornda. She\u2019s worked here for about four years after the Downtown Women\u2019s Center provided her with supportive housing. Now she lives independently with her kids. We\u2019re not using LaShornda\u2019s full name because she has concerns about her safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always get second chances. And it was a struggle,\u201d she said, recalling her journey from being unhoused, to getting full-time work and housing and, recently, a promotion.<\/p>\n
Now LaShornda works to train other women at the cafe, providing many with their first job after fighting to survive on the streets for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it here… I love to see some of the women that come in here every day and I know [their] drinks,\u201d LaShornda said.<\/p>\n
The Downtown Women\u2019s Center serves about 5,000 people annually with things like permanent supportive housing and job training at their cafe. The center started the cafe about 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not your normal image of providing services for people experiencing homelessness,\u201d Amy Turk, Downtown Women\u2019s Center\u2019s CEO, said during a visit to the cafe. \u201cTwenty-three thousand women are experiencing homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles. And primarily the reasons stem from gender-based violence, domestic violence and incomes that have never been on par with men.”<\/p>\n
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Aprons hang on the wall at the Made by DWC candle-making studio. <\/p>\n
About five years ago \u2014 after moving from Texas and getting stranded without work during the height of the pandemic \u2014 Alexandria Pi\u00f1eda found herself unhoused on Skid Row. That was before she got linked up with DWC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Skid Row community was so good to me,\u201d Pi\u00f1eda said. \u201cYou know, they really looked out for me. And it\u2019s nice for them to have something nice. For them to be able to escape the madness on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cafe typically trains dozens of workers a year. And while you\u2019re grabbing a cup of coffee, you might notice some handmade candles on the shelves, with scents like Halfmoon BAE and Joshua TEA. Under the brand Made by DWC<\/a>, Pi\u00f1eda and her team of trainees make those just a few blocks away, along with bath salts and other scented goods.<\/p>\n Alexandria Pi\u00f1eda in her office at the Made by DWC studio in Downtown L.A. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of them are stuck in survival mode because they\u2019re straight off the street when they come to us,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they\u2019re with me for four months. So I kind of have the opportunity to train them out of that… It completely changes their life and I get to witness that. All the time.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that\u2019s the best part of the job.<\/p>\n How to visit:<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768137729_915_.jpeg\")
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