Feature: Lord Windsor in Long Beach

Lots of natural light. Chill playlist music. Enough seating for a full house to be comfortable. And most importantly: plenty of outlets! I'm jk, most importantly: the coffee is to die for! But also lots of outlets... These are the characteristics of one of the older and lasting landmark coffee shops in Long Beach, Lord Windsor. 
I talked to owner Wade Windsor to find out the history of third-wave coffee shops in the LB (it's rocky, but booming now), how he got to be a coffee shop owner and why he's in it for the long haul.
Wade remembers seeing people standing in a line around the corner waiting for the first Blue Bottle retail store to open in San Francisco, and thought, "Wow, there's a market for this. There's a need for this!" He saw LB as similar to Frisco, and knew people would welcome another option to Starbucks and Coffee Bean.
He's definitely been met with antipathy before, though. People walking in and claiming the hipster indie gentrification is ruining the neighborhood, blah blah. He remembers thinking, "then why are you even coming here? Haha... Just don't come!"
Wade really cares about homage being paid to coffee's journey from farm to cup, so he always aims for "handshake coffee" or as close as it gets (as few middle men as possible from farmer to importer). A lot of coffee shops have not had long-term success in LB because people are cashing in on the "trend" of "hipster coffee shop that's Instagram-friendly." So the ones that are still around are in it for the right reasons: because they have passion.
My ratings for Lord Windsor:

• Study spot? 5 stars
• Quality pour over? 5 stars
• Espresso? 5 stars
• Seating? 4 stars
• First date spot? 4 stars