Coffee House by Day, Speakeasy by Night · Welcome to Nikola Tesla’s Laboratory
Somewhere along the lines of where my passion meets appetite, I stumbled upon a landmark of a building in which Nikola Tesla lived and performed many of his famous experiments on radio waves. Hidden behind Patent Coffee on 27th street lies a secret that I’ll reveal down below.
Patent Coffee is pretty awesome, I tried oat milk there for the first time and they have plenty of other milk varieties to choose from as well. Kenya Thomas, from The Skinny NYC, and I also indulged in their savory Kouign Amann and a side salad to balance out the health factor. They owned the day.
When it comes to Patent Pending, it’s now my favorite speakeasy in NYC and I can’t wait to take some doosts there. It’s intimate, full of history, with unique and delicious drinks with well executed themed names like “Light Me Up”, plus bites. If you ask the staff, they have a few possibly-haunted encounters on the job to dish about plus a few discoveries they made about Tesla himself.
While it’s true that Tesla never married, rumors say that after he was hit by a taxi — he fell in love with a pigeon. Apparently, pigeons have facial recognition and while Tesla was recovering, one, in particular, would always visit him.
These radio waves, envisioned by Tesla more than a century ago, are what guide you (GPS) and surround us daily as what you know now as WiFi.
Here, in his laboratory, he transmitted the first recording of radio waves that were sent to Trinity Church in downtown Manhattan. I happen to live blocks away from Trinity Church, which is also a landmark of its own and the place of rest for major historical figures like Alexander Hamilton.
Tesla is one of the most underrated and significant physicists, ever. The sad thing was that a lot of others took credit for the works dreamed of and invented by Tesla. He didn’t come from money nor did he have a had strong financial backing. And when he did (Edison, JP Morgan) they took the credit for his work. But what Tesla did have was charm, and some of his admirers included Mark Twain and John Muir, father of the National Parks system.
Born during a lightning storm, Nikola Tesla was a child of light. An immigrant, an innovator and a patriot, Tesla dreamed of a world which few others could imagine. He was an eccentric genius, an ‘Electric Messiah’.
10 Random facts about Nikola Tesla:
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- Born in Serbia, Tesla became a naturalized citizen of the United States after moving to NYC at the age of 28.
- After arriving in New York and being hired by Thomas Edison, Tesla famously slept no more than 2 hours a night. frequently leaving Edison’s lab only as his contemporaries were arriving early in the morning. he wrote extensively about the superfluous nature of sleep and attributed his tremendous thinking power to this discipline.
- Tesla would become an iconic symbol of American ingenuity and a prominent fixture in the city’s intellectual community. A resident of Gerlach Hotel (amongst others) and a proud New Yorker, he made all of Manhattan his laboratory as he famously paced the streets absorbed in his thoughts.
- Tesla had many quirks in his personality to the point some labeled him as being obsessively compulsive (OCD). He did things in 3’s. He would often clean his plate with18 napkins or stroll around the block 3 times before entering a building.
- One of the greatest inventions in Tesla’s epic portfolio is the AC Induction Motor. Must also rank amongst the most important inventions of all time. With AC the standard in virtually all current day appliances and electromagnets at the core of the most practical motors, Tesla’s induction motor is often cited as a key driver of the electric revolution.
- In 1901, Italian physicists and Tesla rival, Guglielmo Marconi, would be the first to send a transatlantic wireless wave. He did so using technologies previously developed by Tesla — using 17 of his patents. Despite subsequent legal action against him, Marconi would be wrongfully memorialized as the father of radio; much to Tesla’s discontent.
- Though he maintained a rigorous diet and avoided all types stimulants such as coffee and tea, Tesla believed deeply in the restorative value of alcohol and was a vociferous proponent of its legalization. During his lifetime, he would publish various articles decrying prohibition and once claimed that alcohol was less dangerous than chewing gum.
- In nearby Madison Square Garden, Tesla unveiled the world’s first remote-controlled boat to the public. The boat appeared to move by magic. Tesla’s prototype was, in fact, responding to radio impulses. If that first boat Tesla wrote: “You do not see there the wireless torpedo, you see there the first of a race of robots, mechanical men which will do the laborious work of the human race.”
- After leaving Edison’s company due to a lack of proper compensation. Tesla went to receive financial backing from George Westinghouse and JP Morgan. investors who saw a financial opportunity. Tesla would end up being credited with at least 300 patents, including international claims. The depth of Tesla’s technical contributions is too rarely recognized in popular culture.
Later in life, Tesla contemplated whether or not he “made too great of a sacrifice” never marrying or having any children. Though the tremendous reach and scale of his scientific and technological accomplishments have transformed our world in unthinkable ways.
We toast to him and the countless others that think outside the box, persevering against all odds.
My doosts, here is the secret I promised before → Go to 49 W 27 Street. On the keypad to the left of the coffee shop press 4-9-2-7, go inside, and you’ll figure out the rest.
Reservations for groups of 4-6 Sunday through Wednesday can email reservations@patentpendingnyc.com.
The 10 Inventions Of Nikola Tesla That Changed The World
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- Alternating Current
- Light
- X-rays
- Radio
- Remote Control
- Electric Motor
- Robotics
- Laser
- Wireless Communications
- Limitless Free Energy
