Reader report: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen slated for the SW corner of 14th Street and Avenue A

EVG photo from early 2022

Renovations are taking inside the former coffee shop at 442 E. 14th St., just west of Avenue A. Two EVG readers/tipsters reported that workers at the scene said the incoming tenant is — Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.

Haven't received any other confirmation of this at the moment. (And if this is true, hopefully the restaurant will have a better exhaust system than the Wing Stop several storefronts away.)

This would also make the second EV Popeyes: an outpost opened in October 2020 at 39 First Ave. between Second Street and Third Street.

No. 442 was previously the Lower East Side Coffee Shop, which closed here after 13 years in February 2021. Next door, New Herbal World, which offered a variety of herbs, teas and tonics as well as acupuncture, moved to Lafayette Street in September 2019. 

It was a tough time for all the businesses on this corner in recent years. For nearly three years, this side of 14th Street was an active construction zone for L-train repairs and Avenue A entrance construction ... with various trucks, drill rigs, pile drivers, compressors and generators. 

Several businesses were forced to shut down due to limited access to their storefronts. Outside the now-shuttered Dion and the Coffee Shop, customer access included only 28 inches of sidewalk space — not big enough for a wheelchair in spots.  

For-rent signs arrive on these 2 storefronts on 14th Street and Avenue A

For-rent signs have arrived on two long-vacant storefronts on the SW corner of Avenue A and 14th Street. (The listings are not online just yet.)

The Lower East Side Coffee Shop closed here after 13 years in February 2021. New Herbal World, which offered a variety of herbs, teas and tonics as well as acupuncture, moved to Lafayette Street in September 2019. 

It was a tough time for all the businesses on this corner in recent years. For nearly three years this side of 14th Street was an active construction zone for L-train repairs and Avenue A entrance construction ... with a variety of trucks, drill rigs, pile drivers, compressors and generators. 

Several businesses were forced to shut down due to severely limited access to their storefronts. Outside the now-shuttered Dion and the Coffee Shop, customer access included only 28 inches of sidewalk space — not big enough for a wheelchair in spots. 

In any event, the arrival of for-rent signs might dispel the speculation that this corner is ripe for development (of course there may not be any air rights given the residential building called EVE next door at the former post office).

Our dwindling number of diners

Back on Friday, we reported that the Lower East Side Coffee Shop, which opened in 2008, is now in the legal possession of the landlord here on 14th Street just west of Avenue A. 

Gov. Cuomo's moratorium on commercial evictions expired on Jan. 31 The posted eviction notice is dated Feb. 4...

Cuomo is advancing legislation to extend the statewide moratorium to May 1. 

News of the closure prompted conversations about the dwindling number of diners left in the neighborhood. While the Lower East Side Coffee Shop was on the new-ish side, it had an old-school vibe, thanks in part to the neon signage that was a welcome sight alongside the Domino's, Trader Joe's and Target.

Elsewhere: Little Poland, which opened in 1985 at 200 Second Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street, has been closed since last March. 

At the start of the year, the diner's Instagram account posted a New Year's wish... with a note saying: "We ... hope we get to see all your beautiful faces soon!"

The storefront remains frozen in March 2020 time...

Meanwhile, as you know, Odessa, which dates to the mid-1960s on Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, closed in July. Longtime manager Dennis Vassilatos said that Odessa was shutting down after a prolonged slump in business due to COVID-19.

Closer to the last day, however, co-owner Steve Helios told Gothamist that Odessa was only closing temporarily, that the space would be renovated. (The building's landlord is Odessa partner Mike Skulikidis.)

To date, seven months later, no work has been done on the space... here's a look from this past weekend...

As for what remains open. Two institutions, Veselka, 144 Second Ave. at Ninth Street, and B&H Diary, 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place, are doing their best under trying circumstances. (Noting: Some purists will say that Veselka is more of a restaurant than a diner, having evolved from its 1950s and 1960s roots, and that B&H is more of a lunch counter. You can debate that in the comments.)

Kitchen Sink, a (slightly) more upscale diner, remains open at 88 Second Ave. at Fifth Street...

The former Moonstruck Diner (as of October 2015) turned off a few die-hards with the arrival at the time of flat-screen TVs and drinks served in mason jars. (Pandemic aside, operating a diner in NYC is always a tough business with rising costs and changing tastes.)

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Updated: Adding Remedy (b. 2007) here over at 245 E. Houston St. at Norfolk.

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And not too far away, there's the Famous Cozy Soup 'n' Burger at 739 Broadway near Astor Place... (this photo is from last summer when they reopened after a five-month hiatus) ...

The diner is struggling to afloat with the downturn in activity (students, tourists, office workers) along this corridor. Manager John Stratidis, who has worked here since age 9, was featured on NY1 back in the fall. His father and uncle opened the diner in 1972. 

Cozy fan Adam Sandler gave them a nice shout-out on Instagram in late December, but the hits keep on coming. Last week, the blizzard wiped out their outdoor dining section. 

Their crowdfunding campaign continues. 

The Marshal seizes the Lower East Side Coffee Shop on 14th Street

Ugh. A bad sign at the Lower East Side Coffee Shop on 14th Street just west of Avenue A ... there's a posted notice stating that the restaurant is now in the legal possession of the landlord. (Thank you to @goodnitesteve for the tip and photo.)

And as you can see, plywood now covers the windows and door. 

While the coffee shop is on the new side (2008), it had (if this is permanent) an old-school look and feel — especially with the neon. This photo is from Jan. 23...

However, business had been off during the pandemic... and the delivery and takeout orders (and extremely limited outdoor seating) ... wasn't apparently enough to stay in business.

Pandemic aside, it has been a tough slog for all the businesses on this corner. For nearly three years this side of 14th Street was an active construction zone for L-train repairs with a variety of trucks, drill rigs, pile drivers, compressors and generators. 

Several businesses were forced to shut down due to severely limited access to their storefronts. Outside the now-shuttered Dion and the Coffee Shop, customer access included only 28 inches of sidewalk space — not big enough for a wheelchair in spots.

Report: Mike Pence supporter arrested for alleged racist tirade, pepper-spray attack at 14th Street diner

Two women, who are Chinese-American, were eating early Sunday morning at the Lower East Side Coffee Shop on 14th Street near Avenue A. One of the women, Sally Wen Mao, a Brooklyn-based poet, shared details of the ugly scene that transpired at the diner via Twitter and Facebook on Sunday. (Several EVG readers shared her Facebook post with us.)

Sadly, I am not surprised about what happened — it was only a matter of time before I would experience this shit personally.

Last night around 2AM I was eating in a 14th Street diner, Lower East Side Coffee Shop, with a friend. Just as we were eating, a loud angry man came in, sat in the booth behind ours, and started complaining about Hamilton, how disgusting and "racist" they were to Pence.

Right behind me, he started rambling loudly, complaining about "so-called minorities." It was really hard to be physically near and intolerable to hear that kind of racist bile, so at some point, I said lower your voice, we are just trying to eat. Then we switched seats to the corner.

Inevitably the Trump supporter got aggressive and told us to go back to Tokyo (!), then called us c**** and whores. At which point I wasn't having it with his racism and misogyny — I splashed my water across his face.
He escalated, called the police and said he would have me arrested all the while calling us derogatory slurs. The guy who was working at the diner (presumably the owner) said and did nothing as we couldn't believe the venom we were getting from this angry dangerous man.

The Trump supporter then blockaded the door to prevent us from leaving the diner, trapping us inside for over an hour. We were physically afraid to go near the door for fear of what he would do to us. He was describing me to the police on his phone, saying that he was for sure pressing charges, sickeningly staring at me and making comments about my appearance. We sat with other women who witnessed the whole thing and were horrified (they showed solidarity to us and said that they would support us if the police asked for the story). More racist sexist shit poured out of him, "c*** whores," he wasn't very creative. So I splashed another glass of water on his face.

The police arrived, asking what happened. They took down my ID, said splashing water is not something they can arrest me for. The sad thing is this white man believed so much in the racism of his fellow white man and the system — a system that has already been broken, and he understands this system benefits him without being informed of what he can or cannot charge someone for. He was trying to engage with other white men and the police officers in a "us" versus "them" way. And sadly, playing the role of demure harmless Asian woman worked in getting the cops to dismiss it, and I recognize my privilege. Eventually after over an hour, the cops had to palliate him, he grew more and more angry over why they weren't arresting me, ranting about "men's rights."

UPDATED: A woman who was there with me and witnessed the whole thing told me that after my friend and I left, there was an incident. A Latino man came in with two of his friends as we were waiting for the police to hand us back my ID and sat in the booth we sat in. As we were exiting, he asked us if we were okay, and I told him a very, very brief version of the story ...

What happened next was also extremely upsetting. The woman told me that the man who asked us if we were okay, told the Trump supporter that he would not tolerate racism. Then the Trump guy took out pepper spray and sprayed it directly into the man's face. That man had to go to the emergency room. At that point, the woman was definitely trying to leave, and the Trump supporter pushed her, and the pepper spray got into one of her friend's eyes too.
The Trump supporter was arrested as the police saw what happened.

But a person who demonstrated empathy, who stood up against racism and said he would not tolerate it, had to go to the emergency room. That person was hurt. We are not safe.

Gothamist has an account of the incident here. The woman at the diner who witnessed what happened is a Mic News reporter, and she shared her version of the events here.

Gothamist also has more details about the man's arrest:

Police arrested Frank Camino, 56, at 2:52 a.m. on Sunday. He's since been charged with assault in the second degree and possession of a weapon, specifically pepper spray. According to a criminal complaint, Camino sprayed a man in the face and eyes with a can of pepper spray, causing swelling, redness and pain.

A spokesman for the NYPD confirmed that Camino was also the man who called 911 to report being splashed with water. Prosecutors and police did not provide details on the arguments that promoted both interactions. Camino's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment; Camino himself could not be reached.

As for why the diner's staff didn't come to assist the women, a manager there told Gothamist that he "had no idea."