My favorite new alphabet city hangout: ABC beer on loisaida and 6th.

2016-03-15: An interview with the founder

EM: How were your first few months of business?
ZM: The first year was definitely our hardest, but far from the reasons you’d expect. Business-wise we hit the ground running and the place was packed every night, way more than we ever anticipated. I was barely 27 years old the day of our grand opening and to say I was naive about business ownership would be an epic understatement. The first 3 weeks of being open were both the most physically exhausted and energized by adrenaline I’ve ever felt in my life. David and I were pulling shifts to let the other nap for 1 hour by the end. It was a solid month before we really got into the stride of bar ownership and sleep schedules could return to normal.

And then, just like that, everything changed. We were 5 and a half months in when we got completely destroyed by Sandy. Going back the next morning was surreal. Water had filled the basement right to the top and had destroyed everything vital to running the business: our compressors, the walk-in fridge, our draft system, our entire inventory of … everything. It was as if someone had shook the room and hit it full blast with a fire hose for a day. I don’t think I’ll ever forget wading in knee-deep water in my basement, wearing a headlamp and hauling heaps of trash and debris to the sidewalk, all while trying to foster every bit of optimism I had while also panicking and proclaiming out loud, “Am I fucking dreaming right now?”

It was also because of this that I experienced firsthand the sense of community that solidified me as a devout New Yorker for life. What started out as neighboring businesses helping each other score gas to run generators turned into complete strangers showing up and asking how they could help out. I still well up sometimes thinking about the support that showed up from friends, family, neighbors and anonymous New Yorkers.

Rebounding from the storm was nothing short of hosting a grand reopening. In a slightly fucked-up way, I am grateful to Sandy for teaching me what it’s like to really dig down and feel ownership over something. I had never had to contemplate my livelihood being taken away from me before, and having gone through the turmoil and stress of it all forged a little something new in me. It taught me to never take a good day for granted, and that even bad days could be worse. It’s one of those clichés that also happens to be true.

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