ON LOCATION
Word of Mouth
BY ABIGAIL FOWLER
29 OCTOBER 2024
Crown Heights has a new café that is all the buzz. Let's drop in on this neighborhood for a spell.
Photo: Abigail Fowler | Juice Mocktail from Word of Mouth, Brooklyn.
I look up as the woman in the booth next to me is motioning for my attention. “That smells so good!” she says- all smiles. “I’m so thankful because I’m starving,” my reply comes with an overdramatized look of hunger before devouring my sausage and egg sandwich. We return to our own little worlds but are both happy to have made a quick connection.
Word of Mouth Café in Crown Heights seems to be a place that allows friendships like these to drift in along with the breeze from the open door. As a traveling business consultant, popping into neighborhoods from time to time for a week, pretending like I have a new home before flying out and starting again is second nature now. This café, however, is undoubtedly a place I want to mark on my map to revisit next time I’m in Brooklyn.
Crown Heights is a historic neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The neighborhood traded its predominantly white population after World War 2 when suburbanization beckoned to the Jewish, Irish, and Italian populations in the area according to NYU’s research on the history of Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. African Americans and black immigrants from the Caribbeans took their place. “The one exception to this pattern were the Lubavitch Hasidic Jews,” NYU reports. From what I can see during my time habituating here, those Lubavitch Jewish communities live in a world separate from the rest. Deeply rooted from generations of families in the same apartment buildings, the shops and schools centered around their culture are well cared for and convey a sense of structure: they have always been there, they know what they’re doing, there’s no reason to change anything, every step and store has been on the same path for multiple decades and multiple Lubavitch Jewish people’s lives. As the Lubavitch Jewish culture narrows down the places they frequent to these old, worn paths, the area is still predominately black.
As a haven with 2 very contrasting cultures, they seem to cohabitate well together. Everyone talks to everyone. On my way to the café this morning, there was a young, Lubavitch Jewish teen getting advice on something from a black bodega owner outside his corner shop. It was apparent they were old friends.
Although this specific neighborhood is biracial, they are experiencing gentrification in their own way. In an article from Dissent Magazine, Crown Heights and BedStuy (the neighboring neighborhood) are feeling subtle pushes to bring more yuppie whites in. 2015’s cold winters left a lot of black tenants in the area with poor heating. After comparing notes, they recognized it was only black apartments who received this treatment. As soon as a person of color moved out of the apartment due to poor heat, the landlord would dramatically raise the price for a WASP yuppie to presumably move in. Over the near decade since that article, organizations such as Building Black Bedstuy have been formed to remedy this.
CROWN HEIGHTS HISTORY LESSON
In August 2021, Crown Heights held "One Crown Heights" which was a day of celebration and community conversation. This has been one of the many initiatives the community has started to mend ties since the 1991 riots between the Jewish and Black communities living in this same neighborhood.
3 days of riots gripped the neighborhood in August, 1991 due to tensions going past their boiling point when a Jewish man lost control of his vehicle and hopped on a curb, injuring one black child and killing another by complete accident. As tensions before that moment between the two communities were so intense, rumors quickly spread about the accidental crash and the riots ensued due to the black community feeling that the killing was intentional by the Jewish community.
From what I could see during my short visit to the neighborhood, it seems the efforts by both communities for harmony in the 30+ years since the riots are working well.
Check out the video below to see Unpacked's overview of the historical timeline.
Video by UNPKD | Information on Crown Height's culture wars.
Photos by Abigail | Scenes at Word of Mouth in Brooklyn.
With all the changes going on in the area, this café is definitely an oasis for a culture that is not my own. They have carefully structured the layout. Parts of it are a reminder that you’re clearly in New York: a generic, floor to ceiling window layout at the front looks like it’s designed to be helpful to whatever shop resides there throughout the century; narrow windows are set in the back with iron bars on the outside to deter robbers. That is the extent of the reminder of NYC, however. Artwork fills the nooks between bookshelves: a mix of photography and portrait paintings that focuses on the feminine divine- mostly black women as it should be. Most of the books available are obviously new, organic cookbooks. Most are displayed in triplicate as if they’re expecting a few to slowly disappear as is natural with a stack of free books in any public area.
The chair-to-booth ratio looks to be around 3-to-1. Woven black and white chairs with wooden frames are paired in twos to each petite, circular table. These sets litter the front like a Parisian café with their labyrinth of tables to wade through as Europeans spend hours at their shops. Along the side and back of the building, the same sitting sets are strategically nestled between deeply green, leather benches curved to form one-fourth of a circle. The benches in the back are doubled for every table, crafting a cozy spot for drinks with friends, which is good as their coffee menu gives way to cocktails around 3 PM.
My booth neighbor who shared my adoration for the sausage and egg sandwich I ordered, Sasha, admitted this was her first time in the shop:
“It’s pretty cool; the aesthetics are nice; there’s a lot of space it’s very roomy; the service is good too. I’ll be coming back.”
Settling myself further in the green, leather semi-circle couch, the music becomes more prominent as I adjust my focus from the scenery to my computer in front of me. “Back & Forth” by Aaliyah plays. The music, like the setting, feels like home even though this isn’t my go-to music genre. I haven’t heard most of these jams in years. The barista, Tiffany, can be overheard saying, “If this playlist wasn’t kickass right now, I’d be so like…. Bro.” Assuming she must have made a face at her coworker, you can hear him bust out laughing seconds later. With a café filled to the brim with people, it’s nice knowing that the employees also feel like they’re in their own universe as we do at this shop. A contrast to the more tourist-packed Manhattan where baristas are so filled with orders, they feel a part of the chaos of the crowd rather than separate from it.
Tiffany has worked there for about 2 weeks. “I love it! We just opened up 2 months ago and I just like the vibes… people come in; chill… the music is awesome. You come in; get your food; dance a little with me; I just like it here!”
Although the café is a recent launch, the walls are a dated millennial grey, as if they’re calling out to a specific clientele. It is obvious that we answered the call. Most of the people present are in their late 20’s. Some are either worn out in their thirties or pushing early forties. I’ve never been good at guessing people’s ages; but the semi-worn faces of those with too much experience in the professional world paired with near Gen-Z trending clothing and zero grey hairs gives a good estimate. Everyone stares avidly into their work without the nervous excitement of a yuppie finishing their first big project.
As we’re in the heart of Brooklyn rather than the tourist traps, all of our “New Yorker” demeanors that we adopt in Manhattan are miles away. Booth neighbors ask each other about what they’re working on, the baristas are dancing with the diners who sit at the bar, yet at the same time everyone acts as they’re given allowances to be in their own “zone” of introverted bubbles. None of us are making small talk, the remarks towards each other are genuine, but quick, and this packed café stays quietly bustling. Sitting at the back of the shop with “Weak” by SWV on the speakers, the outside world is still faintly present. Zooming motorbikes crunching on the recently fallen leaves in the streets are audibly apparent although I’m 50 feet into the back of this shop.
“I came in yesterday to get a coffee and I did a little work... I was like ‘I need to be outside my house to avoid seasonal depression’,” Maniya told me over the thumps from the bass drop in the music. This new coffee shop is clearly, quickly becoming a haven for those who live nearby.
Map by Wix | Location of Word of Mouth in Brooklyn.
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