Built by Hand, Run with Heart

From a Mountain Bike to the Whole Block

Summer Abu-Zahrah moved to San Diego from Michigan at 22 with little more than a mountain bike and a plan to make it work — her parents helped her unload a U-Haul, wished her luck, and left. She sold her car just to cover six months of rent, then rode that bike around Crown Point looking for a job until she found a little gem of a coffee shop.

She worked the counter, saved up, went back to school, and kept at it — and by 27, she’d bought the shop herself. What was then a walk-up window under 200 square feet has grown, year by year, into the full indoor-and-patio café you can sit down in today: bright colors, local beach art on the walls, and a menu that keeps evolving with what the neighborhood actually wants to eat.

Her take on the hard days: “If that’s the worst thing that happens today, I’m ok with that!” It’s that same steadiness that shows up in how the shop treats people — regulars greeted by name, visiting families remembered year after year, and a crew that genuinely likes being there.