Angelo Merendino of Aljazeera tells the fascinating tale of Ayman Alkayali, the man behind Algebra Tea House in Little Italy. From the feature:

In the early days of Algebra's existence, Ayman faced great opposition. "Many neighbourhood residents didn't want me to be here." There were offers to buy him out, a steady stream of inspectors scrutinised every detail of the shop's renovation, and people shouted racial slurs as they drove by. "I had my struggles and had to go through that for a tough three years in the beginning. Thankfully, there were residents who stood up for me; without them it would have been a much more difficult fight."

Read the whole story here.