Thonet Chairs and Neon Signs: Coffeehouse Culture in Exile

Long before Starbucks colonized every corner and Friends made Central Perk an icon, the coffeehouse was Vienna's radical experiment in democracy: a marble-tabled sanctuary where artists, writers, and revolutionaries could linger for hours over a single cup, debating the future of art and politics. Recognized by UNESCO in 2011 as Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Viennese coffeehouse was far more than a café. It was a democratic salon where ideas moved as freely as the endless newspapers passed between Thonet chairs. When Nazi persecution scattered Vienna's Jewish intelligentsia across the globe in the 1930s, they carried this tradition to an unlikely new home: Los Angeles. Tiger Strikes Asteroid Los Angeles is pleased to announce the new exhibition, Thonet Chairs and Neon Signs: Coffeehouse Culture in Exile , that traces this remarkable cultural journey—from fin-de-siècle Vienna to the Hollywood hills, revealing how the coffeehouse became a space where exile, creativity, and democracy converged. In reference to a film noir stage set, and the genre's shadowy aesthetic (where coffeehouses and diners became stages for political intrigue and moral reckoning), the exhibition design honors both Los Angeles's cinematic heritage and the profound influence Central European émigrés had on Hollywood. Visitors move through expressionistic lighting and atmospheric spaces that evoke the democratic coffeehouses of Vienna and the smoky cafés of classic noir films like Casablanca (1942) and Mildred Pierce (1945)—spaces that functioned as sites of resistance, refuge, and revelation. The artists in this exhibition trace this lineage forward, examining how the coffeehouse tradition continues in contemporary Los Angeles, from Silver Lake to Venice, and how spaces of conversation remain spaces of cultural and political possibilities. True to the Viennese tradition where 'time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill,' we invite you to linger in this exhibition as long as you wish—no consumption required.