Screamed the t-shirt uniform from C’s Doughnut House & Bakery, where in 1977 as a teen, Ed started his foodservice career as a swing shift ‘doughnut’ man in the Sepulveda, Ca. establishment. Ed ate and clawed his way through filling and dough and plenty of mopped floors up the proofing box and ended up the full time Danish Pastry ‘Chef’ for the wholesale and retail store. Not yet realizing his full potential, Ed spiraled out of control and worked for a summer at the famous “Inn of The Seventh Ray” in Topanga Canyon . 400 lbs of grated cheese and 22 bushels of green beans later, Ed was summoned back to C’s Donut House & Bakery to finish what he started by managing the store and bakery operations at 17. By 1981, Ed was well on his way to retiring his rolling pin and apron for an architectural scale. Then, in 1982, Ed was fortunate enough to land an apprenticeship at the prestigious firm of Milton I. Swimmer Planning & Design, Inc. There, Ed launched his full time career of making things that were not edible, beautiful. Or, at least well planned...

After 25 years of working for other designers and architects Ed cut his first real break in the coffee business, when Bruce Milletto asked him to help with the planning of the new ABC school in Portland Oregon . Originally named DNA Café in 2003, basically Ed on his laptop at a coffee house in Stockton, Ca. with the occasional visit to Oregon and the Milletto’s, Ed, launched Café Design & Architecture in 2005. Thomas Ziv joined in 2005 while CafeDnA started Monkey Royale in Morro Bay, making Café Design & Architecture complete.

Thank you to Laure Macanas, Steven Ball, Marty Liebmann, Robert Hess, Architect, Rachel Hartman, and Ed Arvidson for their continued support.