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ALSO COVERING ELMHURST, JACKSON HEIGHTS, LONG ISLAND CITY, MASPETH, MIDDLE VILLAGE, REGO PARK, SUNNYSIDE
June 12-18, 2020
‘JACKSON HEIGHTS STRONG’
Espresso 77 cafe owner creates vibrant artwork after boarding up storefront
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.
Espresso 77 in Jackson Heights created a vibrant artwork after boarding up their storefront.
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.
Photo by Angélica Acevedo
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.”
Vol. 8 No. 24 36 total pages
2021
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