Frank Langen Discusses the Birth and Evolution of Canyon Square

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

Canyon Square is an eclectic collection of businesses—a coffee shop, a clothing store, a market, a real estate office, and an art gallery—with outdoor tables and chairs spread on a patio between them.

It’s also a carefully curated space that was designed with the Canyon in mind, owner Frank Langen said.

“It’s my gift to the community,” said Langen, 63, noting that the birth of RustiCoffee in 2019 spurred the square’s popularity, particularly after COVID-19 hit the following year, and the popular Venica eatery Gjelina, shuttered by the pandemic, temporarily began baking pizza in the square. “We were a beacon of light during a dark time. We’ve really been embraced by the neighborhood.”

Frank Langen at Canyon Square. Photo: Levi Langen

All five businesses recently became part of the newly formed Canyon Business Association, which has 18 members, and was initiated by The Canyon Alliance to help local businesses recover and flourish in the post-fire era.

While the coffee shop was an instant hit which spurred Canyon Grocer and Replenish clothing shop as well as the burrito cart Neto’s Café to join Canyon Square in the ensuing years, the Jan. 7 Palisades fire put all of Canyon Square out of business for weeks. Even three months later, only half of their clientele have returned, Langen said. The area is no longer easily accessible to people from Malibu, and many Palisadians have lost their homes so they no longer pop down to the Canyon to shop or get a cup of coffee.

“It’s almost like we’re next to a war zone,” Langen said. “We’ve gotten used to the National Guard’s presence…. It’s the new reality.”

All three small shops have separate owners who rent space in the square, while Langen operates the real estate office, In the Canyon, and the art gallery, Gallery 169. Long before Langen’s tenure, Cleveland Wrecking Co., which did demolition, occupied the property, and then a wholesale nursery operated a business there. But after buying the property, then erecting his building with the real estate office and gallery in 2008, Langen began wondering how he could bring the warmth and camaraderie of a coffee shop to the Canyon too. For ten years, he ran into bureaucratic red tape that sank the project.

“Just when I was going to give up, I saw this airstream at a 40th birthday party in Santa Monica,” Langen said. “I told the operator, if you ever want a better location, call me. She did, and the day she rolled into the Canyon was the best day she’d ever had. That’s sometimes how life works. When you’ve given up and are leaving it to the universe, it falls into your lap.”

In many ways, Langen’s life has been filled with surprising shifts. Starting at two years old, he moved every year to a new location in either Santa Monica or Germany, residing in Hamburg, Munich, and Zylt, until ultimately returning to Santa Monica with his mother and sister when he was 12. But he didn’t stay in California for long. After graduating from Santa Monica High School, he enrolled in the University of Colorado at Boulder, from which he graduated in 1985 with a degree in economics with a philosophy minor.

Langen, who learned French and German as a child, then moved to Paris and worked at the conglomerate Cargill where he traded commodities in Paris, Hamburg, and Milan, before becoming a fashion and still life photographer. But the grind of being a freelancer took the fun out of photography.

“I liked photography as a hobby, but it was grueling as a career,” Langen said.

In 1994, he returned to Los Angeles and soon began working in real estate. He eventually moved into a 100-year-old Rustic Canyon cabin and became immersed in Canyon culture. He and his wife, Diana Braun, a realtor, had a son, Levi, now 14, who attends Loyola High, and also raised two children from previous relationships, Anouk Braun, 22, who graduated from Northeastern, and Max Langen, 22, who will soon graduate from the New School in Manhattan.

Langen also revived a professional connection to photography by opening Gallery 169.

“I built the gallery because my heart is with art and photography,” Langen said. “It’s been a culturally enriching thing for myself and the neighborhood.”

That combination of following a personal interest while also seeking a community benefit has been a central theme of his Canyon life. With his real estate business, he not only enjoys exploring the beauty and uniqueness of local architecture, but also working to find new residents who want to be part of the community rather than distant owners looking for an investment property. For five years, he was the president of the Boca neighborhood association, and he’s looking forward to being a part of the new Canyon Business Association.

“I don’t think the businesses have ever had one voice,” Langen said. “I’ve been around long enough to see that it’s helpful to have one voice to speak on behalf of many.”