On Hyperion Avenue in Los Feliz, a former smoke shop has been reimagined as Reunion & Company – a café by day, wine bar by night. The space is the vision of Cathleen and Tyler Simmons, a couple blending coffee, wine and community into one concept.
Since the couple met over 20 years ago, Tyler has dreamed of opening a coffee shop. When the couple eventually began harvesting their own wine, the idea to merge both passions — coffee and wine — into one space began to take shape.
Now Los Feliz locals, the Simmons, have planted their new venture in the heart of their own neighborhood.
“There’s not a lot of places that we feel are visually beautiful, but also casual enough to bring kids,” Cathleen said. “We didn’t have that in our neighborhood. So, last July, we started demo.”
What followed was a hands-on renovation powered by friends and family. “It’s really been a labor of love,” she said. “So many people came to demo with us — which was so cool.”
Inside, the design reflects the Simmons’ vision for a second home. Guests order drinks at a marble island-style bar, before heading through an archway into a room lined with blue velvet walls, bookshelves, paintings and lounge couches.
Candlelight and warm tones create a space that feels lived in. “We want people to come here to talk and hang out, get to know each other and meet people, as if you were having a reunion,” Cathleen said.
By day, the café serves unique drinks and pastries like matcha over prickly pear cactus water, cardamom lattes and a Nutella croissant.
Her kids are already the café’s unofficial taste-testers. “They highly recommend the coffee cake donut and pop tart,” Cathleen said.
Come evening, the space transforms into a full-service wine bar, open 5 to 11 p.m., pouring the couple’s own harvested wine with small bites to match.
“We have seven or eight vintages [wine harvested from grapes in a single year] and more coming,” Cathleen said. “Every season we get to go up during the harvest time and sample it all… It’s really creative and fun.”
Even the bottles have personality. “Our red is called Big Sis and our orange is the Skin Contact,” she said. “We make cute characters for each wine so that it creates that family reunion feel.”
For now, the bar will pour only their own wines, but Cathleen hopes to expand the menu soon.
“I love Chardonnay,” she said. “I always tell Tyler I’d love to make like an old-lady Chardonnay and name it some funny aunt name.”
Guests are invited to stop by their opening day celebration on Nov. 15, from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. and sample their coffee, pastries, wine and small bites.
“The ultimate goal,” Cathleen said, “was to have a place for our community. For our friends and family to come and unwind. I think we’ve finally found it.”
And it shows. Reunion & Company isn’t just a café or a wine bar – it’s a home-away-from-home where anyone who walks in can grab a seat, share a glass and feel like they’re part of a family.
By the time they leave, they’ve joined the reunion — and the company.