Off-Broadway on Northern Boulevard
Murray Hill was once a sleepy suburban section of Flushing. It’s now being transformed and revitalized by young Korean-American restaurateurs bringing a Seoul-inspired vibe to the food and bar scene.
The newest hot spot on this two-mile stretch along Northern Boulevard is—for once—not a nightclub, karaoke joint or even a bar. It’s White Noise Coffee, a large, warehouse-like café a stone’s throw from the Broadway Long Island Rail Road station. It keeps long hours on the weekends and is always abuzz with the chatter of the city’s bright young things.
Creating a clubhouse-like atmosphere was the goal of owner and manager Vanesa Kim, 30, who found that the stylish lounges that were plentiful in Manhattan or Brooklyn were lacking in this part of Queens. She secured the space two years ago with the intention of building not just a café, but an artistic hub in the neighborhood. “We want to create a culture and a community,” she said.
In an area with a large population of newly arrived Asian immigrants living alongside generations-long Queens natives, bars and restaurants often feel segregated along ethnic and linguistic lines. But today, White Noise Coffee has become the local hangout place, hosting an inclusive and diverse array of young people.
Like her customers, Kim also has an eclectic background. Born in Buenos Aires, she grew up amidst the bustle of her Korean parents’ cafés and restaurants. Her family migrated to Long Island when she was 8 years old, and she eventually studied acting at LaGuardia High School in Manhattan and St. John’s University in Queens.
Kim supported herself while acting in Off-Off Broadway shows after college by working in coffee shops, and saw similarities between the two professions. Baristas are constantly performing, she found, and have the ability to brighten their customers’ days with a friendly word or genuine smile.
When she took the leap to open the café of her dreams, she used her theater roots as inspiration. With an actor’s eye for mise en scène, she populated White Noise with sights and sounds that stimulate all the senses.
Designed to evoke an Off-Broadway theater, the front counter is lit up—the focal point of the space—as if a stage on which her cast of baristas perform their magic. “We have very unique characters,” she says of her devoted staff, whom she mentors to bring their individual personalities to their jobs.
“We train them to become very confident about themselves. I try and push them and really tell them what they’re good at and use that to better themselves in the field.” “Rebel with a cause” is spelled out on a wall in neon lighting, her team’s mission statement in a nutshell.
The name White Noise denotes the symphony of sounds one might hear at a neighborhood café: childrens’ laughter, the nervous hellos of a couple on their first date, the clatter of laptop keys as students work on papers, overlaid with background music, the grinding of coffee beans and the splash of water flowing in the sink.
“Every sound that is important in life is combined in our café,” said Kim, who took great care to position the café’s speakers at just the right locations. “It’s been proven that all these noises put together is experimentally the most calming noise you can hear.”
There is meaning and purpose in everything offered at White Noise. The large array of plants recalls Kim’s childhood in South America, amongst bountiful greenery and inspiring nature scenes. The seasonal menu of American and Asian-inspired staples uses fresh ingredients like pomegranates in the wintertime and sesame soft serve in warmer months.
Kim’s approach has attracted devotees across all backgrounds, and even boroughs. Jose Mercedes, 23, was born in Haiti and raised in the Bronx, where he still lives today. A White Noise customer before he became a barista, he credits Kim—and the chance to practice Korean, his minor at LaGuardia Community College—for his love of the job. He braves the hour-and-a-half commute each way to perfect his latte art over cups of mixed-to-order matcha.
Another White Noise location is set to open this year in Brooklyn, this one inspired by the energy of a London train station. An artist with an eye for design, Kim is also looking to create a line of merchandise, with “Rebel” branded clothes and accessories on sale soon. In the meantime, she’s happy to keep presiding over her café, welcoming all the colorful characters that step through her door. “Everyone that comes in isn’t a stranger to me.”
Kim remains modest about her achievements, but hopes her story can inspire other women to go after their dreams.
“For me to actually run this café and start expanding to my second and third and fourth, I think it just tells people that ‘Why not? I can even do this’—I’m really small and short—‘[If] this little Asian girl can do it, why can’t I do it?’ I want to have people to actually be able to say that. I want to show people a woman can own and do and be strong.”
