Lazy Daze Coffee House is Still Closed

Lazy Daze Coffee House is still closed. I didn’t necessarily expect that the baristas would open it back up again by the end of June, which was one rumor that I had heard. That would have been ideal, but it probably would have been an enormous task, in terms of both money and work, to say nothing of whatever legal hurdles they might have had to clear in order to resume operating a business that had been forcibly closed by the Internal Revenue Service only about six weeks earlier.

Then there was a post by the owner of Lazy Daze on the coffee shop’s Facebook page. (Did you know there were public Facebook pages, where you can sometimes get the wayward bit of information without actually having to join the collective?) That came one month ago to the day, oddly enough, and indicated that a planned liquidation sale had been cancelled because someone had approached the owner about buying all of the assets and re-opening Lazy Daze, though perhaps not in its original location. (What there was not was any mention of why Lazy Daze closed in the first place. I would have thought that someone who would take such obvious pride and credit for the renaissance of the Irvington business district would also have the courage to explain why such a beloved and vital part of said Irvington business district would be so suddenly taken from us; but I would have been wrong.)

(Of course, there may be all kinds of things floating around on the non-public Facebook pages, but I won’t get to know about those rumors and innuendoes. I’m not joining Facebook just to find out if the best coffee shop ever is going to re-open. And information posted on non-public Facebook pages doesn’t count as real information.)

And speaking of best coffee shop ever, there is supposedly going to be a new contestant for that title opening on 10th Street before long. Tin Comet Coffee is painted on the paper covering the windows at 2119 East 10th Street, and I’m hoping that one of these days when I drive by, the paper will be gone and an OPEN sign will be lit up. Tin Comet will be owned and operated in part by one of the baristas who used to sling the hooch at Lazy Daze; and while their product probably won’t taste exactly like the coffee at Lazy Daze (which I miss terribly), the quality of their espresso drinks will be second to none, because the former Lazy Daze barista in question was also the best of the Lazy Daze baristas.

The only problem with Tin Comet coffee is that I won’t be able to approach it on foot from the east. Actually, the truth is that I won’t be willing to approach it on foot from the east, at least not at first. It’s nearly three miles from my house, and most of that is due west along Michigan Street or 10th Street. I consider myself an intrepid walker, but hoofing it along Michigan Street or 10th Street, between Emerson Avenue and Rural Street, might be a bridge too far. Those are some of the sketchiest stretches in the whole city, and even though part of that stretch, the bit along 10th Street at the very end where, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new coffee shop is eventually going to be, is working on getting better, it isn’t all the way there yet.

Approaching from the west, however, is another matter entirely. Jackson’s school is less than half a mile from the new coffee shop, directly along 10th Street—passing Woodruff Place as you go. Beyond Jackson’s school, just a little bit further west, you connect with the Cultural Trail and curve around down Mass Ave. Just writing this post has gotten me psyched up about making this week’s Wednesday downtown walk a quest to check out the new coffee shop, even if they aren’t open. Yogülatté is open, and I can get a non-chain coffee from there and walk out to Tin Comet and see what’s what.

(I’m also curious to see how many page views I get with this post. My previous post about Lazy Daze closing generated over 100 page views, which I think is the most of any blog I have ever posted. I’m sort of hoping that if someone stumbles across this post and knows something about when or if Lazy Daze might re-open, they might be inclined to comment. And for that reason, I am, for the first time in a long time, opening up the comments to those anonymous posters who are not registered with Blogger. Just please sack up and identify yourself in the body of the comment, if you aren’t a Blogger person.)