"In an art gallery in Long Beach, a makeshift coffee shop roars in the corner. Baristas call out orders over the hum of chatter. Magnetic mahjong tiles stick to the espresso maker. On the walls hang "Reinne Checks" where customers are invited to write notes to loved ones who have passed, past selves and even exes from years ago - grief and its many phantoms."
"A joke that the coffee shop owner, Tommy Le, repeats often: " Coffee baristas are therapists who serve people coffee." Le turned his own personal tragedy and community-minded spirit into a place where customers can channel love and loss. Occasionally, customers burst into tears. Le - who founded the coffee shop in memory of his late girlfriend, Reinne Lim, in 2025 - welcomes it, even encourages it."
"When Le first began dating Lim, he noticed she always gave spare change to unhoused people on the street. Why? Le remembers asking his girlfriend, whom he met while working as a barista. Raised by Vietnamese immigrant parents, Le was taught to be wary of strangers - generosity was ripe for exploitation. Lim dismissed that cynicism. "She didn't judge people like that," Le said. She lived openly, warmly, without suspicion."
Tommy Le founded Reinne's Place in 2025 in memory of his late girlfriend, Reinne Lim. The space operates as a makeshift coffee shop inside an art gallery in Long Beach and invites customers to write 'Reinne Checks' notes to deceased loved ones, past selves and exes. The shop encourages emotional release and communal care; customers often cry and find protection among strangers. The Instagram launch went viral and drew community support. Lim was generous to unhoused people; she died in October 2022 after a drunk driver struck their car head-on, leaving Le critically injured.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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