Happy birthday to The Cow’s End Cafe‘s Clabe Hartley!
Here is a throwback to our interview with Clabe a few years ago. Get to know your local coffee shop owner.
Interview by Venice Paparazzi’s Alex Stowell
The Cow’s End Cafe has been serving coffee, sandwiches, smoothies and more to Venice and MDR residents for 29 years. It is a beloved institution where the locals hang. Today we are going to meet the man who started it all, Clabe Hartley. Clabe is a pit bull loving, life long martial artist who listens to the Eagles, likes to eat lobster and cites The Godfather as his favorite movie.
Years later, when Clabe eloped with his wife Thea, it was a priest and Sensei Ohshima that presided over the ceremony in Little Tokyo.

Clabe, Thea and Seaf Hartley
So, drawing on his memories of Panama and Chicago as coffee houses being a “community gathering for culture,” The Cows End was born.

Clabe and Thor on the Venice Boardwalk. RIP Thor!

Fun fact! Here is Clabe in his modeling days! Photo courtesy of Thea Hartley

Clabe Hartley (center) with Mark Van Gessel (Hinano Cafe & Nighhawk Breakfast Bar), Bob Singer (C&O Trattoria), Darrell Preston (The Venice Whaler), Mo Karimbeik (Med Cafe), Councilmember Mike Bonin, George Francisco (Venice Chamber President ), Brittney Seeliger, Mike Dobson (The Venice Whaler & Red O Restaurant), Will Hawkins (VNC), Sandie West (MPCC & Creative Chakra), and Dave Boren (VB Surf). Photo taken at the official Washington Square Sign ceremony on August 17, 2016.
Stop by the Cow’s End Cafe and say hi to Clabe!
“It’s not just The Cow Coffee, it’s the Experience.”
=Free Wi-Fi with Purchase!!!
=Free Children’s Music Class Mon. & Thurs. from 10:30am~11:15am
=OA(Over Eaters Anonymous) Meeting Mon.~Fri. from 7:30am~8:30am
=Private Room Available for Rental.