Between mid-August and September 25, 2026, four businesses selling coffee or bagels opened on the western stretch of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. Blank Street Coffee came first, then PopUp Bagels, then Joe & The Juice, and Omake last. In late summer Studio City added far more to its morning than to its evening. The one big new dinner spot, El Ruso, sits farther east at 10628 Ventura and opened in July.
That changes what a Saturday on the boulevard looks like this fall. Here is what opened, where it sits, and how it fits around the neighborhood's October calendar.
Six weeks, four openings
The timeline is tight enough to list in order:
- Blank Street Coffee, Ventura Boulevard at Fulton Avenue, opened in mid-August. The Los Angeles Times gives the date as Aug. 12, and the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle says Aug. 11.
- PopUp Bagels, 12184 Ventura Blvd., opened Aug. 28.
- Joe & The Juice, 12915 Ventura Blvd., held a grand opening celebration on Saturday, Sept. 5.
- Omake, 12437 Ventura Blvd., opened Friday, Sept. 25.
Just over the border, the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association's newsletter put a name to it:
"...now a full-blown coffee-and-bagel arms race..."
In practice, the four shops don't overlap much. Each one covers a different part of the morning.
Blank Street and the corner at Fulton
Blank Street, a coffee chain that started in New York, anchors a new mixed-use building called Fulton Crossing. It has shops on the ground floor and offices above, across Ventura from Casa Vega, and a vintage Airstream trailer is parked on the corner to mark the spot. The Sherman Oaks association counts this corner as part of its own stretch of the boulevard, and the Los Angeles Times reported the opening as Studio City. This is the border block, and both neighborhoods claim it.
For the first few weeks the main story was the line. The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle reported lines around the block. Two Studio City residents told the paper they waited nearly 45 minutes on their first visit, and a student who goes often said her longest wait had been about 15 minutes. The shop sits close to the Harvard-Westlake upper school campus, so the after-school rush is part of the pattern too.
PopUp Bagels takes the earliest slot
PopUp Bagels opened at 12184 Ventura. A 2024 Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association newsletter listed Pret A Manger at that address. Patch called it the brand's second Los Angeles-area location after Brentwood.
The format is simple. Whole bagels come fresh from the oven, and you pull them apart and dip them in schmear, which the company calls "Grip, Rip and Dip." For the Studio City opening, PopUp sold a limited strawberry-shortcake schmear made with Patrick Ta.
PopUp's location page lists hours of 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, the earliest posted open time of the four. The same page still labeled the shop "Opens Soon" weeks after it opened, so check the hours before planning a dawn run.
Joe & The Juice fills the gap in between
Joe & The Juice at 12915 Ventura sits between PopUp and the Fulton corner. On Aug. 26 the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle reported the site was still under construction and expected to open "within the next few months." A San Fernando Valley Sun event listing then advertised a grand opening celebration for Saturday, Sept. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It promised coffee from a pink Joe & The Juice Bentayga, free products, collaboration merch and a lineup of Bentley vehicles from Bentley Beverly Hills. That listing is the most recent public date for the store. Before going, check that it is running its regular hours.
Omake is the one built for lingering
Omake is the newest of the four and the most unusual. Studio City Local describes it as two ideas behind one door. One side is an everyday coffee bar. The other is a guided tasting in the style of an omakase, where a barista takes you through each cup and where it came from. The name is Japanese for "extra," and owner Iskuhi Kalantaryan calls the shop a "teleport into the now."
The short opening menu pulls each coffee from a different roaster and origin. The signature drinks:
- Immersion Cortado, with barrel-aged beans and a bite of halva
- Sol, an iced latte with Madagascar vanilla, a passionfruit cream top and bee pollen
- Dew, matcha under a mascarpone cream top
- Eve, espresso and tonic with butterfly pea flower, peach, sea buckthorn and toasted rosemary
Two details are still unsettled. One report listed hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, while Omake's own opening announcement said 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Early reports also said the tasting side might open a little after the coffee bar. If the tasting is the reason for your visit, Omake's Instagram, @omake.sc, is the place to confirm both.
The evening addition sits on the east end
The four morning openings are spread from 12184 Ventura west to Fulton Avenue. The summer's biggest new dinner spot is much farther east. El Ruso opened its first restaurant at 10628 Ventura on July 22, in the space Roadside Tacos left when its lease ended.
Founders Walter Soto and Julia Silva ran El Ruso for years as a street operation known for fresh flour tortillas. It was featured in Netflix's "Taco Chronicles." Soto told the Los Angeles Times he had been paying an estimated $10,000 a year in parking tickets as a street vendor. The Studio City space seats roughly 150 guests and has a large patio, mesquite-charcoal grilling, and a full liquor license. That means margaritas and beer with El Ruso's food for the first time.
According to the Times in August 2026, most tacos are two for $12, the rib-eye taco is $13, and the sobaqueras are $20, up from $16.50 in the truck days. The listed hours are Thursday, Sunday and Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Times also reported that the restaurant has often sold out of tacos since opening, so later in the evening can be a gamble.
Where the fall calendar lines up
The new openings are most useful on days when something else is already happening nearby. The neighborhood's October and November dates fall into a few clear pairings.
Sunday mornings, every week. The Studio City Farmers Market runs 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Ventura Place between Radford Avenue and Laurel Canyon Boulevard. It sits on the eastern side of the boulevard, between El Ruso and the new coffee cluster.
Saturday, Oct. 3, 3 to 7 p.m. The Tujunga Village Art Walk takes over Tujunga Avenue between Woodbridge Street and Moorpark Street, with free admission. It ends just as El Ruso's Saturday dinner hours get going.
Saturday, Oct. 17, 8 to 11 a.m. LAFD Station 78 at 4041 Whitsett Ave. holds its 3rd Annual Open House and Firefighters Pancake Breakfast, at $10.
Sunday, Oct. 18, 8:30 to 11 a.m. The Studio City Neighborhood Council has a community cleanup on its calendar. The listing doesn't give a meeting point yet.
Monday, Nov. 9, 6 to 8 p.m. The council hosts a Living With Coyotes presentation at the Studio City Library.
One change on the park side affects families planning weekend mornings. The council reported on Sept. 11 that Beeman Park's playground was closed for work near the Recreation Center ramp, with construction expected to finish in early 2027.
Before July, a Studio City Saturday fell into familiar slots: the art walk, the Sunday market, dinner somewhere on the boulevard. This fall the hours before 10 a.m. are much busier, with a 6 a.m. bagel counter, a matcha line by Harvard-Westlake, a juice bar, and a coffee tasting that rewards an unhurried visit.
When the mix of businesses on a stretch of Ventura shifts this quickly, it becomes part of how nearby homes compare to one another. If you'd like to know how that applies to your block, Jennifer Landon and the team can walk you through it. Schedule a valuation & strategy session.
