Like any environment, you can measure the health of the Broadway biospher by some of its tiniest organisms.
Bean Espresso seems like a good sign.
Bean has given new life to the storied Capitol Hill coffee stand once home to Vivace’s walk-up bar. It appeared in the 300 block Broadway E space last week.
As a possible indicator species, Bean Espresso might represent a utilitarian, no-frills era for the street. Affordability is also a factor. The stand is starting with some of the lowest coffee prices on the Hill.
The revival of the space from new coffee stand entrepreneur Peter Nierman comes as the counter has been shuttered since last fall when the Fuel coffee chain pulled the plug on its tour in the space as ownership cited business and logistical issues in running the coffee walk-up.
CHS reported in the spring of 2023 as the Vivace coffee family bid goodbye to the popular counter space after decades of service as it faced challenges around staffing and its proximity to the still-bustling Broadway Vivace cafe.
The sidewalk stand has been a connection to Vivace’s beginnings with an open-air coffee bar serving a winding sidewalk line of customers. There was a time when you could depend on it for the earliest opening among Capitol Hill caffeine sources.
Now Bean Espresso begins a new Broadway coffee era in the tiny space below the Casa Del Ray apartments neighboring the Buckhorn Barbershop and Spin Cycle Records Movies and Games.
The CHS Facebook Group, in the meanwhile, has some early positive reviews — “a simple place, no frills, and I got an 8oz latte that was very smooth,” info — “they get their beans from Bean Around The World in Vancouver,” and goodwill — “That nook deserves to LIVE!”
Bean Espresso is located at 321 Broadway E.
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Nice to have this space open again, but the “new” Broadway may prove too much for them. I walked by there yesterday and all the little cafe tables they set out were being used by fentanyl users. Thanks Mayor Harrell and CP Hollingsworth.
Went by earlier and tables seem to have gone :(
It is sad that progressives think letting drug addicts take over and destroy neighborhoods and themselves without consequences or accountability is compassionate. Harm reduction they say. If that is true, why do we have exponential growth in drug overdoses, public disorder, misery and death? Why do places like Seattle that enact these policies have worse outcomes? What we need is stigma, law enforcement, and mandatory treatment to end this self-created crisis that is rooted in a failed ideology.
$2 espresso down at Fraam just off east lake. Perhaps we need a coffee buddy app similar to the gas price ?
i would love to see more little booths like this selling other things too instead of giant brick and mortar locations that can’t sustain the rent and change concepts every year. Hot Mamas seems to be doing fine with the take away window and a couple seats outside nowadays for example.
I would love this too, but it depends on street order
Right? The Red Hook brewery was apparently on the hook for $50k a month, and it will probably sit empty for five years like many of the new developments on that stretch. Major developments are screwing over their communities and themselves with those massive spaces.
Great to have this open again. I just hope that this iteration of the coffee stand doesn’t suffer the same issues from the local addict population that caused the previous business to close. Broadway is nasty these days.
Walked by yesterday and tables and chairs had been removed. Walked by today and tables and chairs were back but also too brainless druggies on those tables and chairs. Sick of this shit.