HOMER SIMPSON STARBUCKS

My sixth Starbucks a tiny oasis right smack in the middle of Uglyville, CA. Okay, it's actually North Hills but they should consider either changing the name to Uglyville or have a paint day. Maybe it's the June gloom but Starbucks store number 11447 would feel right at home in a Steinbeck novel.

It's nice inside the store. Very friendly crew. Across the street is a Yum-Yum Donut shop and an Anheuser-Busch Brewery is a stone's throw away. Homer Simpson would love it here.

The guy in blue in the picture is acting out some fight in a store in which one of the guys had a gun. And on the way here I passed a guy carrying a beer bottle and a machete.

Good times.

STARBUCKS AND STARBUCK IN STARBUCKS

Ultra-geek-cool or sign of the Apocalypse?

Via Topless Robot

HIGH ALTITUDE STARBUCKS

My fifth Starbucks sits about 6,750 ft above sea level in Big Bear, CA. We spent last weekend at Crestline, CA with some friends. My daughter needed a nap and I figured the hum of the car would lull her to sleep. Sure enough, it worked. So we drove to Big Bear and she napped the whole way.

The Starbucks is wedged between a pizza place and a liquor store. One stop shopping, really, for a weekend in the mountains. The place was pretty crowded with tourists (my daughter and I being two of them). Very slow service. But it was the weekend. It's probably better service during the week when it's not so crowded.

It's a great place to grab a drink and then walk 2 blocks to the lake or stroll through town.

Village and Paine

40568 Village Drive

Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 US

909-878-5094

EMPIRICAL STARBUCKS

Starbucks #4 is nestled in a shopping center in Burbank, CA. The Victory and Empire store. From the outside it sort of looks like a storage shed on 'roids. But inside - oh the inside is glorious. Plenty of room, the best air-conditioned Starbucks ever, and free of hipsters. This is where I was on July 19, 2005 at 10:17am when my wife called to tell me we had been matched with a baby in China.

I could spend all day at this Starbucks. The shopping center has Target, Lowe's, Michaels, Nordstrom Rack, Krispy Kreme, Sports Authority (to work off those Krispy Kremes) and oh so much more.

And just down the road is a Costco, a firing range and an animal shelter. Talk about the ingredients for some tasteless jokes.

1711 North Victory Place
Burbank, CA 91502
818-843-3979

STARBUCKS #1

A journey begins with a single step and in my case, a single Starbucks. In my quest to visit every Starbucks known to mankind, I begin in Guangzhou, China, at the Starbucks at 101-102 Peace World Plaza, Jian She Liu Ma Lu, opposite the Garden Hotel.

My wife and I were in China to adopt our daughter and this is the first Starbucks we went to as a family. Traditions have to start somewhere, right? It's a spanky 2-floor store with yummy pastries and is the gateway to the Bridge of Lepers, a pedestrian bridge filled with beggars right out of a horror film.

The 2-block area is great. There are some great little restaurants, a Pizza Hut (if you must), a clothing store where I got an Armani knockoff for $50 and a massage place that charges $10 for an hour massage.

This is one of my favorite Starbucks so I'll rate it: Trenta.

101-102 Peace World Plaza, Jian She Liu Ma Lu, GUANGZHOU

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Phone: +86 20 8375 2196