In the 1990’s I was good friends with then owner Alex, who said he was from Yemen. I haven’t seen him in ages. After 9/11 there was the anti-Semitic incident the whole neighborhood knows about and since then traffic in the store is not as great as it used to be.

I still go in there for a cup of coffee to go, occasionally, especially when I’m too lazy to make my own at home. Like I did this morning. Their coffee is decent, not special but serviceable. But there’s little joy in the exchanges with the guys behind the counter. They’re restrained and tense all the time. Force of habit, I suppose. Can’t be easy to be an Arab guy in New York City these days.