Skip to content

Eyes on the Street: Midtown Pop-Up Café an Instant Attraction

Pop-up indeed!

Pop-up indeed!

A reader sends along this photo of the new pop-up café on 44th Street, just west of Third Avenue. The local community board just approved the café in March, while one local resident, convinced that Midtown is an “inappropriate location” for more public seating, was still fighting to block it last month. Now the chairs have been set out and residents and visitors in this crowded part of the city are already using it to sit and chat. This photo was taken early in the morning on a Saturday, and we hear it gets much more use on weekdays.

Photo of Noah Kazis
Noah joined Streetsblog as a New York City reporter at the start of 2010. When he was a kid, he collected subway paraphernalia in a Vignelli-map shoebox. Before coming to Streetsblog, he blogged at TheCityFix DC and worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Noah graduated from Yale University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the class politics of transportation reform in New York City. He lives in Morningside Heights.

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog New York City

‘Stop Super Speeders’: Preventing The Next Fatal Crash Is Up To You

April 22, 2026

Waymo Is Not In The ‘Vision Zero’ Toolbox: Data

April 22, 2026

Queens Civic Panel Endorses Mamdani’s Super-Sized Astoria Bike Lane

April 22, 2026

Wednesday’s Headlines: The ‘Boulevard of Bus’ Edition

April 22, 2026

‘Rate Evaders’: Auto Insurance Address Fraud Soars Under Hochul’s Watch

April 21, 2026
See all posts