June 14, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PA GE 7
‘JACKSON HEIGHTS STRONG’
Espresso 77 cafe owner creates vibrant artwork after boarding up storefront
Espresso 77 in Jackson Heights created a vibrant artwork after boarding up their storefront. Photo by Angélica Acevedo
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
If you pass by Espresso 77, a cafe and
wine bar that doubles as a gallery for local
artists, you can’t help but stop and admire
their colorful display, proclaiming “Jackson
Heights Strong.”
The vibrant artwork was created by
Afzal Hossain, the owner of the popular
cafe located at 35-57 77th St., after they were
forced to board up their original glass window
display with plywood.
On the night of Tuesday, May 26, Hossain
said two individuals tried to break
into the cafe by smashing the windows
with a brick.
Julie Nymann, Hossain’s wife, said
they got calls from neighbors who saw
the attempt and called the police. Hossain
spoke with police that night, but
hasn’t received word that any arrests have
been made, as the two individuals fled
before anyone arrived.
The incident occurred days before the
Black Lives Matter demonstrations for
George Floyd began in New York City.
Hossain didn’t think it’d be necessary
to board up the cafe before the incident, as
they felt it brought beauty to their neighborhood.
Still, Hossain believes “everything
happens for a reason.”
“It does make me angry, but I said, ‘I
cannot be angry, I need to calm down,'”
Hossain said. “So I immediately thought
about doing something beautiful.”
Nymann said they were able to find an
emergency glass repair to fix it the next
day, but decided to board it up for the time
being since the cafe has remained closed for
several weeks due to the COVID-19 health
crisis. They’re still not sure when they’ll
re-open, as they want to keep their staff and
customers safe.
But when Hossain and Nymann posted
about their shattered window on social media
the next day, David Heatley, a cartoonist
who lives in the neighborhood, immediately
volunteered to help create the artwork
and suggested they make it a community
project.
“I think of their cafe as central to the
neighborhood,” Heatley said. “I drew a
lot of my first books sitting there. I had
a gallery show there. I feel very connected
to them, and feel they’re important
part of the Jackson Heights
community.”
And so they began painting the next
day. A small group of kids, teens and adults
from the neighborhood joined Hossain and
Heatley to help paint the vibrant display.
Hossain said the artwork “came organically”
in a “flow of angriness and happiness,”
as they drew outlines of trees, fish
and more abstract figures with a red, green,
blue and yellow color palette.
“This kind of came about for unfortunate
reasons, but it was a way to continue
being a space for creativity,” Nymann said.
Espresso 77 has hosted live music, art
shows, poetry and a space community
members can use as their “living room,” as
Hossain puts it, for 12 years now.
“We’re a community business, not a
big business,” Hossain, who emigrated
from Bangladesh more than two decades
ago, said. “People are already coming
and taking photographs. It sends a good
message.”
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