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Betsy Martinez couldn’t stop smiling as she checked TikTok for updates.
The day before, she had posted a video in which she danced with a skeleton to Lady Gaga’s “Zombieboy,” just as the singer had done a few days before at Coachella.
Much to Martinez’s surprise, Lady Gaga’s official TikTok account engaged with her video.
“I woke up this morning to people commenting like, ‘Oh, my God, Gaga reposted and commented’ and all this stuff,” Martinez said. “She reposted it and then just commented, like, a little laughing face. So is it really her or her team doing it? I don’t know, but it was cool.”
Having Lady Gaga interact with her video embodies the spirit that drove Martinez and her wife, Cynthia Temblador, to open Fan Girl Cafe in November 2023 and the type of energy that has inhabited the locale’s four walls going back to its nearly 20 years as two of L.A.’s premier music clubs.
The coffee shop sits on Santa Monica Boulevard and Crescent Heights Boulevard and is tucked in the back of a small shopping center next to a nail salon and a deli.
Walking into Fan Girl teleports patrons into an explosively pink love letter to women and LGBTQ+ musicians. Music from a constant stream of YouTube videos pumps out from every corner, with an eclectic mix that ranges from Courtney Love to Missy Elliott to Selena. The cafe’s rosy walls are covered with concert photography of Janelle Monáe, Phoebe Bridgers, Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Rogers and Florence Welch, just to name a few.
The inspiration for the photo-covered wall came from Martinez’s work in concert photography, with many of the pieces in the shop bearing her credit.
As a teen, Jefri Lindo trekked across L.A. on buses looking for work. He was brewing a future as the co-owner of Ülëw Coffee and Juice.
She first got into the world of music photography while growing up as a punk- and ska-loving teenager in Orange County and Riverside County who frequented Warped Tour and chronicled her experiences in zines.
Martinez stepped away from concert photography as she got older but stayed in the music world, working as a server and bartender at venues across Southern California — while pursuing screenwriting on the side.
When her film dreams “didn’t pan out,” she went back to music photography, launching her own blog, “Fan Girl L.A.,” in 2020. That dream was crushed too with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But as every screenwriter knows — when one scene ends, another begins.
Enter Cynthia Temblador.
Originally from the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City, the Fan Girl co-owner studied chemical engineering and moved to the Central Coast city of Santa Maria to work in a food safety lab in 2016.
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She grew up in a “very, very musical family” who constantly threw on the music of English-language acts such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Abba and Chicago, in addition to the legends and contemporaries of Mexican music.
“Mexico City has one of the biggest fan bases in the world for music,” Temblador said. “Everyone is a fangirl there, so that’s like part of every person in Mexico City.”
The 33-year-old said that while living in Santa Maria she missed going to concerts, like she had for decades in her hometown. To alleviate that longing, she frequently visited Los Angeles to catch shows.
It was that shared love of music that set things into motion for Martinez and Temblador when they met on Bumble in 2020.
“I was in West Hollywood and Cynthia was in the Central Coast, but because of what was going on in the world, I think it was meant to be because I would never would have met someone that far away,” said Martinez, whose work was indefinitely on hold at the time. “It kind of all just worked out for us to make it work.”
The couple spent a lot of time hanging out at coffee shops in L.A. — as Temblador worked remotely — and they began to notice that a lot of cafes were lacking something.
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“In the ’90s, when I was in high school, [coffee shops] used to be more of a vibe and an atmosphere,” Martinez said. “It kind of started making me think it would be really cool to have a place [like that].”
Those were the first seeds of Fan Girl Cafe, but the vision grew bigger as the duo wanted to create a “different scene” in West Hollywood that wasn’t centered on drinking alcohol.
Securing that physical space, however, was a long journey for the couple, who married in 2022. They quickly realized finding a location was an uphill battle in West Hollywood, especially since they had no additional financial backing outside of their own savings.
The cafe’s current location was the first space they eyed while on their real estate hunt in 2021, and something about the space — besides its affordability — kept calling Martinez back to it. In January 2023, the couple put down their first payment and began the hard work of remodeling.
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With the help of family and friends, they painted walls, hung photos and crafted a stage and benches. Their renovation included two themed restrooms: a bright-pink one that plays Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” on loop and a second dark-colored one featuring collages of historic women artists. After facing setbacks in construction due to Tropical Storm Hilary in August 2023, the cafe opened in November 2023.
What Martinez and her wife didn’t know at the time of purchasing the space was its storied musical history dating to the 1960s.
From 1961 to 1973 it was home to P.J.’s, a nightclub focused on jazz and pop music. It hosted famous acts such as Kool & the Gang and the Flying Burrito Brothers. The venue later became the Starwood nightclub from 1973 to 1981.
It wasn’t until two patrons — including a member of Bauhaus — reminisced on their days at the Starwood that the couple discovered what their coffee shop once was. After some research, they learned that the former club’s punk stage was located where their register now stands.
“Knowing that Mötley Crüe and the Go-Go’s played where we extract our coffee ... it’s just like such energy,” Temblador said.
In April 1981, Mötley Crüe performed its first concert as a band at the Starwood. Other big-time names that played there include Van Halen, Blondie, Joan Jett’s group the Runaways, AC/DC and the Ramones.
Realizing that artists whose photos hung in the cafe had performed in the very same location decades prior felt like connecting the dots for Martinez.
“When we found out, it was just chills. Maybe that’s why I kept coming back to this place,” she said.
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“It’s like cosmic energy,” Temblador chimed in.
The couple looks to commemorate the Starwood in small ways like naming a food item or drink after the nightclub or setting up a QR code in the shop that leads to an informational website. They also hope to have a gallery night to display old photos, show archival reviews and play recordings of bands that played the venue.
In the same way that the Starwood created a space for artists of all stripes to display their work, Fan Girl looks to uplift artists through its merchandise that features work from small, woman and queer-owned business. Chappell Roan-themed tote bags, an Olivia Rodrigo candle in the style of a religious vela, Sabrina Carpenter stickers and a “Golden Girls” lunch pail are just some of the items found in the merchandise corner.
“Sometimes people now just walk in and go straight to the little merch table,” Martinez said. “As [people] check out, they grab a few stickers and it helps sales. And then when we get new things in, I’ll tag the company that it’s from, and I think they appreciate that and they’re excited.”
For now, the couple is working out the kinks of running a coffee shop with no previous management experience and learning to balance the business and the personal. But one thing holding it all together is the joy and community that has formed around the love of music and an appreciation for a good cup of coffee.
“It was just important to have a true community space, and I think that’s what we’ve built here. We’ve seen strangers become friends,” Martinez said. “There’s really no pressure when you come in here. It’s a place you can go on a date, you can go with your friends or you can go alone. And I think everyone feels comfortable here.”
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