Silverlake's endangered Coffee Table

Laptop-carrying Eastside caffeine addicts had a scare this week with news that the Coffee Table, a restaurant known for its fresh food and multiple electrical outlets, had lost its lease on Rowena in Silverlake. But it turns out the Coffee Table may be ok after all — it's Rowena that's in trouble.

A 3-story, 200-foot, 64-unit condo complex may go in on the street. If all goes as planned, the Coffee Table will rent retail space in the complex — in roughly the same place, we're guessing. But the complex itself looks kind of gargantuan compared to the surrounding buildings. Opponents point out that the development's footprint — 10,760 square feet — is entirely out of proportion with a neighborhood whose buildings have an average footprint of no more than 2,100 square feet.

Those affluent, activist Silverlakers sure can organize quickly; a meeting to rally oppponents is scheduled for next Wednesday night at Ivanhoe School. The development falls in City Councilman Tom La Bonge's district; so far, there has been no comment on it from his office.