05/19/2026
The Bruce C. Snook Citizen of the Year dinner to honor this years recipients Jerry & Leslie Robbins will be held Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at the Lions Service Center, 420 Sixth Ave., Three Rivers. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and dinner (catered by Hip Padders) will be at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 each and can be purchased at Ridgeway Floral or by contacting Julie Mayuiers at 269-254-1938 and must be purchased no later than May 20th, no tickets will be available at the door.
Jerry & Leslie are the longtime owners of a popular community gathering place have been selected as the recipients of this year’s Bruce C. Snook Citizen of the Year Award.
Jerry and Leslie Robbins, who ran L.A.’s Coffee Café for more than 25 years, will be honored by the Three Rivers Lions Club at a banquet on May 26.
High school sweethearts from Belleville, Michigan, the couple moved here in 1991 after looking for a smaller town to raise their family and as Leslie put it, Three Rivers “seemed very cozy.”
Jerry worked in Lansing for GM and Leslie worked part-time at Big Boy, but they jumped into community involvement with Jerry serving four years as a first-district city commissioner.
“We did a lot of volunteer work,” Leslie said. This included cleaning up the library in the spring and helping citizens with their needs, such as installation of a new water line.
In January 2000, Leslie’s dream of starting a business came to fruition with the opening of L.A.’s Coffee Café at 1145 W. Michigan Ave.
“Coffee was getting pretty big, and I thought that Three Rivers deserved to have one,” she said of the coffee shop.
Leslie especially enjoyed the educational aspect of her work, teaching the difference between coffees such as cappuccinos and lattes.
L.A.’s was a family affair, with daughter Aimee Mastny bringing the drink knowledge, Leslie working in the kitchen, and Jerry doing paperwork and manual work.
“It still kept us involved with the community,” she said.
Eventually they outgrew the building, and moved to 145 W. Michigan Ave.
This gave them the opportunity to have a drive-through, a bigger kitchen, and more rooms for people to hold meetings. Whether police officers, bank staff, Avon representatives, Rotary board members, or church groups – all found their way to gather at L.A.’s.
Their house coffee was a hit, as was the “L.A.’s Latte” (initially a Halloween concoction of toasted marshmallow, chocolate, and caramel entitled “Smooth as a Ghost”).
They saw a couple hundred people a day easily, and over their 26 years in business, had nearly 40,000 free-drink punch cards redeemed.
Then COVID came – a dark cloud with a silver lining.
“It was the most trying time, but yet the most rewarding time,” Jerry said. “People came out when they didn’t have to and supported us above and beyond.”
The Robbins family, in turn, supported the community, offering a “breadbasket” – making enough bread for people to take. They donated 10 meals for the COA twice a week, and the community began donating to expand both projects. They started a prayer request board, which grew into giving away Bibles. And they furnished free meals each day to first responders.
In September 2025, Leslie and Jerry closed the shop, beginning a well-deserved retirement.
During this new phase of their lives, Leslie plans to spend more time in Massachusetts with daughter Jesica, who will be having her first baby, while Jerry remodels their Three Rivers home with the intent to sell it and downsize. Aimee has become the secretary at Jergens Heating and Cooling, and has more time to attend sporting events for her daughters, Rylee and Adyson.
As they reflect on their quarter-century at L.A.’s, Leslie says, “We were part of a lot of people’s lives every single day. We got to get to know them personally, and they touched our hearts.”
“They became part of our lives and we became part of theirs,” Jerry added. “Some became like family. Some passed away, and that was hard. We watched many grow up.
“It was rewarding to watch the community grow right in our own coffee shop.”
