Beloved Dive Bar Lucy’s Inches Closer to Reopening

Earlier this year, Lucy’s, a dive bar staple of the East Village since the 1980s, was facing eviction: Owner Ludwika “Lucy” Mickevicius had gone to a month-to-month lease, and her new landlords, who had purchased the building for $19 million, wanted to raise her rent to $25,000, which, she told EV Grieve, she could not afford. In February, Gothamist reported a sign dated January 29 to the front door stated she had 30 days to “vacate and surrender possession of the premises to [the] owner.”

In May, Jon Neidich’s hospitality group, Golden Age (Le Dive, the Nines, Deux Chats), applied for a liquor license to take over Lucy’s bar space. If the LLC on the filing is any indication, the name will remain Lucy’s (the listing for Lucy’s on Google reads “temporarily closed”).

The question of whether Mickevicius herself would still be involved loomed large. Last week, EV Grieve reported that Neidich’s team will appear before the community board on August 19, and included a statement that supports Mickevicius staying on: “While we are taking over the operation of the bar, our involvement is solely premised on preserving an East Village institution: Lucy herself will very much still be a part of this project (and will still be behind the bar!). We will not be changing the concept or design of the space (we will be adding some soundproofing in the ceiling and an ADA bathroom).” Eater has reached out to Golden Age Hospitality for more information.

Lucy made the dive bar worth visiting, a “one of a kind bartender,” overseeing a relic of a fading version of Downtown Manhattan, one with just a handful of dive bars left.

At least up until now, Neidich’s businesses are just about the antithesis of Lucy’s. But EV Grieve reports that Neidich is a longtime fan of the bar and reportedly used to live above it.

Neidich — who recently was the subject of a New York Times profile, which describes him as a nightlife impresario, known for swanking up Millennial bars — is behind spots like the Nines, with its caviar potato, where reservations are a must, and table service cocktails and a dress code are a given. He’s had success with the not-at-all dive, Le Dive, a wine bar fixture of the Dimes Square scene. Before that, he was involved with the Wythe Hotel restaurant Le Crocodile, and cocktail bar the Happiest Hour, and made a name for himself opening Acme nightclub on Great Jones Street.