ALEXANDRA MORRIS
Staff Writer
While the campus at Pepperdine University was named by the Princeton Review as the most beautiful in the country, students need a few hot-spots to relax around Malibu when they need to get away from school. A popular hangout is the Colony Marketplace, where Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf caters to the coffee cravings of students and Malibuites. A common sight for students is a full-time Coffee Bean employee, Jonathon Brashear. As customers become regulars at this coffee shop, Brashear, 25, and his coworkers become a familiar part of their day.
“I see a lot of Pepperdine students,” Brashear said. “The Pepperdine students working here know all the ones who come in for coffee.”
Brashear has lived in West Los Angeles for more than two years, but continues to make the 40-minute commute to Malibu just to work in what he calls the laid-back beach environment. While he has lived in Southern California all his life, Brashear spent several years studying as a business major at the University of Colorado before moving back to Los Angeles to work. For seven months Brashear said he has enjoyed making coffee and having a few laughs at Coffee Bean. While the most popular drink at Coffee Bean is the chai tea latte, Brashear’s personal favorite is the pomegranate blended, pomegranate and blueberry juices blended with ice.
What he said he loves most about his job is the social aspect. Brashear credits the employees with making the work atmosphere pleasant and fun. It also helps that a high school friend works at Crush, the store right across the way from Coffee Bean, and the rest of the good vibes he attributes to Malibu. The beautiful, open space studded with fashion-conscious couples and boutiques. He said it is the relaxed, trendy attitude of Malibu people that keeps his job interesting.
“There is lots of space but still plenty of people to run into,” Brashear said, “It’s not no-man’s land.” Yet, he recognizes that even Malibu has its faults.
“My pet peeve about Malibu, is watching parents who don’t parent,” he said responding to the combination of unruly kids and nonchalant parents who can be irritating. However, it is not significant enough to dampen Brashear’s genuine love of Malibu. The days are enjoyable working alongside lively and pleasant coworkers. He is a huge fan of Taverna Tony’s, the nearby Greek restaurant that Brashear credits with having the greatest Greek food. Occasionally the restaurant feeds the Coffee Bean employees, for which they are always grateful.
Although he loves his job, he said his passion has always been music. As a self-taught musician, Brashear has been making music for 18 years. His favorite genre is hip hop, and he cites artists such as Eminem, Def Jams, G Unit and Redman as his inspiration. He writes lyrics and sings, and is revamping his demo in anticipation of an upcoming performance. Eventually Brashear hopes to do it all: produce, write and perform.
His life goals are to make music, live independently, and see more of the world. Brashear and his family have visited Europe once before, but he still hopes to make a solo trip in the near future as well as vacation in the Caribbean.
When he is not working, Brashear strolls along the Venice strip, going in and out of shops and restaurants.
mployees chatting with long-time customers and greeting newcomers with self-assured smiles in the Malibu Colony location. Tuesday night, Daniel Colella was doing just that among the store racks, neatly loaded with men’s and women’s surf and skate equipment as well as with trendy clothing that match those lifestyles.
Colella, a 21-year-old from Woodland Hills, said he works at Becker’s because of the pleasing atmosphere
“I work with a bunch of my friends, so we all get along,” Colella said. “We have a positive vibe around here, and we try to keep it that way.”
Colella helps supervise other employees, assists customers and organizes merchandise such as the sunglasses and shoes. During his full-time hours at the store, he meets a lot of students who go to Pepperdine, and many types of interesting people.
“Celebrities come in here a lot, and people who just live here. The local guys who surf in Malibu. Everyone who comes in here is pretty nice and relaxed,” Colella said. He added, “Eventually, everyone gets to start to know you. They’re like, ‘You’re the big guy with the Mohawk from Becker’s.’ It’s cool that some people come in everyday to say hi.”
Outside of his work, Colella has many hobbies that include outdoor sports and the visual arts.
“I surf, paint, snowboard, bodyboard and I started getting into downhill skateboarding,” Colella said.
He started surfing about a year and a half ago with friends, to learn more about his job. Colella surfs in the area around Los Angeles County, all the way up to the Ventura area. He usually uses his shortboard for Zuma and Countyline beaches, while he prefers to use his longboard at the beaches in Malibu and Leo Carillo. Colella has a tattoo of waves on his arms, which is reflective of his passion for the ocean.
Colella has been bodyboarding for around eight years, and one story that stands out to Colella from his bodyboarding adventures is when he and a fellow employee went to the North Shore in Hawaii for a week and a half. While bodyboarding in a river mouth one day, he found a standing wave.
“The water rushes in, and the water rushes out, and it kind of collides and makes a nice little wave,” Colella said. “It was my first time doing it, so I go on with my bodyboard, and the wave was really fast as it gained momentum. It took me over, and I went though a huge washing machine, and I went down that day. I drifted out about halfway through the bay. That was a really gnarly story.”
In the future, Colella said he wants to continue to surf and paint. “I love to paint,” Colella said, and he described how he has been recently working with charcoal and acrylics. A testament to the personalized atmosphere at Becker’s is the display of one of Colella’s paintings above some surfboards. The painting is a colorful and expressive piece that shows abstract drippings of acrylic paint with a skillful rendering of a cartoon-like character.
Colella describes his personal philosophy as, “Be happy. Enjoy the surf, you know, and be respectful about people around you. Be open-minded about things.”
03-23-2006
