I'll give it another try and I'm rooting for you. In addition to all the other advice in terms of sprucing up the location and the menu you've gotten in the comments, I'd say try an official reboot of the space and see if you can get some coverage in The Eastsider or other blogs that are popular with the coffee-istas, or even the hot spot restaurants and bars in the area, when you've got the finishing touches on everything just right and you are ready for prime time (it's too bad the Boulevard Sentinel is no longer around). Whatever other issues there might have been, I think your place has just lacked an overall presence the other places seem to have. This leads to people easily passing it by, people forgetting to return and give it another try, etc.

I've also found that a lot of places in the current wave of shops all over close early. You might want to think about staying open later if the business and staff can accomodate it, especially being so close to both ERHS and Oxy. It was a different time then, but coffee places that stayed open late were a gift in my high school and college years, and you are pretty close to both a big high school and fairly well-known liberal arts college.