Coffee shop and DIY venue Caffeine Underground (447 Central Ave) will close its doors on Tuesday after 9 years.
The news was broken to an unsuspecting crowd gathered for the local art hub’s weekly open mic, then confirmed on instagram shortly after.
“Thanks to you guys[;] we made it for 9 years! It’s time to evolve, to be mobile.” said owner Ian Ford. “Rents are suffocating the scene[,] but there are many ways to support underground culture.”
The night’s open mic had consisted of a handful of stand-up comedians who got minimal laughs (but took it well), a performance art piece involving a heated argument with a Gemini chatbot, and at least one talented singer-songwriter1. Heads turned when comedian Adiel Kay mused:: “I’m going to miss this place.”
Some in the community were ambivalent. A nearby resident said, “I regularly forgot these guys [Caffeine Underground] existed. Guess you only miss what you’re about to lose. I’ll try to keep supporting Xoco-latte, like, twice a year.” One local, anonymous iced coffee influencer said they’d yet to have the chance to go.
In an interview at Comics and Caffeine Fest, hosted by Caffeine Underground in February, Ford was asked how his business has changed over time compared to his initial vision. He replied, “It’s been successful… I really didn’t come in with a set idea of how it was supposed to be.”
Caffeine Underground was home to maker’s markets, DJ classes, Magic: The Gathering meetups, and more. They were (allegedly) the first place to legally serve marijuana-infused coffee in the city (it was only CBD). As the news spread throughout the open mic crowd on March 29th, someone said the truism that “the only constant in this city is change.” While that might be true, the closure is a loss for late-night coffee enjoyers and emerging artists of all disciplines.
Google Maps shows that, as of August 2011, the property was vacated by Central Food Store Property. ACRIS records list the owner as 447 Central, LLC, which tracks back to 839 Classon Ave, neighbor to Crown Heights cafe Villager, famous for its $10 pourovers. Other similar businesses listed at 839 include B3 Brooklyn LLC, 1386 Lincoln LLC, and Millennial Funding Inc, all real estate companies at the same address as G-Way Management, which has a notably terrible history with their tenants. G-Way’s registered agent and founder is Ami Ariel, the likely end beneficiary of Caffeine Underground’s storefront. This is a common scheme in real estate to obscure ownership and the public accountability that may come with it. This ambiguity has long been a statewide problem that persists after Governor Hochul vetoed the expansion of the LLC Transparency Act—which she herself signed into law—that would have forced property owners’ public identities into the open.
Amid the ambiguity––both for the property and Caffeine Underground’s future––Ford seems to see the future in good spirits; Caffeine Underground’s post also read, “We have some ideas.” Grime Square reached out to confirm what they meant by “ideas,” but received no comment over Instagram or from owner Ian Ford when asked for him in-person. At Caffeine Underground, one employee of five years that spoke to Grime Square said he’d been asked about the closure dozens of times since opening. (He had just finished speaking to the owner of a new art gallery that was in need of free furniture.)
“Since they wrote about wanting “to be mobile,” maybe Bushwick will see them return as a coffee truck on Flushing, or a popup at Maria Hernandez. In an era of rising rents at home and in retail spaces, even the barista has nowhere to rest for long. If anything, the closure reminds all of us out here playing the game to show up for what you can while you can.
Jake Goetz is a writer and broadcaster from New Jersey who now lives in Brooklyn. He can be found on instagram and his blog, voidtext.
Top photo taken by Andrew Karpan.
- There were only two musicians playing original music that night and one of them was writer Jake Goetz. ↩︎
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