It Appears Max Fish is Selling Rebooted Orchard Street Bar
For the second time in years, obituaries are to be written for a Lower East Side classic. Max Fish, which defied the odds to reopen in a new location, might close down all over again.
The first evidence of what’s to transpire here on Orchard Street is an application for a new liquor license at 120 Orchard Street. Paperwork shows that Max Fish co-owner (and founder), Ulli Rimkus, is selling the assets (Ulli Bar Corp) to a different corporate entity.
The newcomers are from an events company called 29Monroe, which partners with local bars like Grey Lady, Sel Rrose, and Short Stories. The group will vie for the sale of assets during the SLA subcommittee meeting of CB3 next month.
Max Fish shortly after the move, Jan. 2015
Rimkus, a local artist, founded Max Fish in 1989, and held down 176 Ludlow Street for over two decades. It quickly became a choice watering hole for artists, skaters, and other assorted misfits. A quarter-century later, high property taxes and skyrocketing rents forced the icon from its perch in July 2013. However, it found a new home on Orchard Street (despite previously considering Williamsburg) while its OG space became the Lower East Side outpost of Sweet Chick. The reboot debuted in August 2014
Here’s a clip from the Ludlow Street sendoff seven years ago:
Recent Stories
Demolition Begins at Fire-Stricken Dim Sum Palace Building in Chinatown
Demolition started this week at 6 Chatham Square, which, until this month, housed neighborhood favorite Dim Sum Palace. Early morning May 1, a fire in the kitchen spread throughout the building, triggering a five-alarm response from the fire department. All told, five firefighters were injured battling the inferno over several hours. And according to Red […]
Eldridge Street Development Sells for $19.24M
A major real estate deal to report on Eldridge Street. It took three years, but the eight-story mixed-use building at 165 Eldridge traded last week for $19.25 million. Just under the initial 2019 asking price of $21 million. Buyer of record is Meng Lee and Karim Elsayyad of FREO Management. The transaction is not yet […]
The ‘Barrier Reefs’ Coming to Clinton Street Bike Lane
The Department of Transportation has chosen a winner to decorate the traffic barrier protecting the Clinton Street bike line. The city agency awarded artist Alison Cynamon as part of the ongoing Barrier Beautification mural project. The concrete slab runs from Delancey Street to South Street; an 840-foot stretch with roughly 1,980 square-feet of canvas to […]
Redlining the LES: How Discriminatory Lending Policies Solidified Pre-Existing Inequalities
The following was written by Anna Sargeantson. All photos courtesy of Anna Sargeantson, except where otherwise noted. Home to dimly lit restaurants and bars frequented by NYU students and young professionals, the Lower East Side remains in many ways the epitome of New York City’s youthful heart. Under the surface, though, the neighborhood has historically […]
Ed Higgins Gets ‘Mail Art’ Retrospective at Van Der Plas Gallery on Orchard Street
Fresh off featuring his art in Ludlow Coffee Supply, the Van Der Plas Gallery of Orchard Street is now dedicating a full artist retrospective to the late Ed Higgins. Higgins, known as a pillar of the “Rivington School” movement in the 1980s Lower East Side, and for his unique “Mail Art,” died last December at […]
