Hans Rockenwagner has explored many ways of showcasing his skills as a chef and a baker: installing a stammtisch (German for communal table) in his flagship restaurant, opening a bakery, and creating a free-spirited café, during his three decades as a German emigré in Los Angeles. Now he has consolidated his operations in a single large space in west LA, commissioning Santa Monica architect David Montalba to build out a 2200-square-foot storefront. Earlier outlets were tucked away; the new Café Rockenwagner puts everything on display behind an expanse of glass on busy Wilshire Boulevard. 

The linear space has a bakery/takeout counter at one end, and a well-protected patio at the other, with dining chairs and tables drawn up to the window in between. Angles and generous spacing between the counter and the tables draw people down a central axis. There’s a stammtisch of white oak with boxy stools, and a long eating counter with high stools. The diversity and openness creates a lively rhythm throughout, enhanced by the dark wood over and below the counter, which contrasts with the angled back wall of white tiles and evokes the proscenium arch of a theater. That spirit of energy has always been a feature of Rockenwagner’s eateries, and Montalba has drawn on his extensive restaurant design experience to intensify the experience.

Open and enclosed areas are divided by glass doors and unified by the polished concrete floor. A louvered screen of rice-husk-based synthetic wood shades diners from summer sun while admitting winter rays. This screen is cut away to the west and extended as a soffit at either end to impart a sense of intimacy and punctuate the ceiling with its recessed lights. Cone-shaped concrete light shades are suspended over the counter. The patio is enclosed on two sides at tabletop level by a diagonal fence of the same European white oak that is used for the custom tables and millwork.

Carpentry is a hobby for Rokenwagner, so he decided to build the bar himself, and his trademark orange shows up in the plastic seated chairs. Another signature touch is the display of freshly baked pretzels pegged to a blackened steel board behind the sales counter. In a city where people are reluctant to leave their cars, Café Rockenwagner nurtures the experience of those who prefer to stroll.