Gizmo’s Cereal Bar: Serving Up Nostalgia In A Bowl

As DTLA development brings more residents to where this great city once began, the neighborhood is becoming, well, more neighborly. Downtown is no longer for working people who commute- it’s for families, it’s for locals, it’s for the young and mature, it’s for kids and pets, it’s for everyone. That means more family-oriented activities and businesses, one that’s caught the hearts of locals is Gizmo’s Cereal Bar.

Remember a simpler time full of Saturday morning cartoons and grabbing breakfast to eat in front of the TV? You probably made a bowl of cereal, and it was the best of times. In a way that's what Gizmo’s is serving up- nostalgia, our childhood memories, and the flavors of a worry-free life, in a bowl. You can even call some of their homemade bowls “deconstructed desserts.” Take for example their latest seasonal bowl inspired by pumpkin pie, whipped cream included.

Gizmo’s is ready for more, they’re installing video game systems soon for game nights and prizes, all ages welcome, kids encouraged, since they truly seem to be the biggest fans. Sitting next to Mom and Dad at a “bar” eating cereal watching morning cartoons- you can feel the nostalgia in the air. The options are to get a pre-made bowl by the experts owner Alex Casado, Cassie Harris, and Ward AKA “Wolf”, or you can BYOB (Build Your Own Bowl). The toppings are endless, there are healthy diet options, and they’re open until 9 PM, every day but Sundays.

The business runs with the help of Alex and Cassie’s family, plus Wolf’s experience of having a successful food business in DTLA. The menu creation stems from Cassie’s favorite candy bars or desserts, deconstructed. For example, the Campfire bowl tastes just like biting into a S'mores bar, AKA heaven. They also have bowls in honor of one kind of cereal like the Captain’s Bowl- which includes six different versions of Cap’n Crunch.

They have a lot more coming, thanks to what Cassie referred to as a “cereal revolution” with new boxes and flavors dropping 2-3 times per month but also expect to see very rare editions from the 1990s. It’s a very exciting time for Gizmo’s indeed, who is the store’s mascot, Alex’s very own Pomeranian. Who comes in and greets guests from time to time!

Gizmo’s isn’t just the breakfast from our earlier years, Gizmo’s can be lunch, a midday snack, breakfast for dinner, and they deliver on most platforms so if you truly don’t feel like leaving your couch and you found some Rocko’s Modern Life you can quite literally recreate your Saturday mornings. Plus, it’s incredibly unique to the area, and their bowls are truly a delicacy. Want some coffee with that? Gizmo’s has local coffee brew Mad Lab ready for you, matcha and chai are also available.

The next time you treat yourself to a bowl at Gizmo’s, phone goes on airplane mode, grab a seat, play some Connect Four, and just ride down memory lane without leaving DTLA.

gizmoscereal.com | 215 W 6th St Unit 109, Los Angeles, CA 90014

Written by Mariana Ramos | Photography by Rebekah Lemire