Mike Cummings spent much of the pandemic drinking beer with his friends on church steps in the East Village. It’s not that he didn’t like bars, he loved them, including St. Dymphna’s, where he’d bartended and which he once dreamed of owning. But New York City real estate is a shark tank, and for years, spots he planned on taking over fell through.
“Then commercial rent prices went down,” says Cummings, of the bleak if opportune COVID era, and in 2022, he and his partners opened the Lower East Side bar Victoria!
Which, to this born-to-it barfly - dad was a bartender in his youth; husband was tending bar when we met; once wrote a bar guide - is everything a bar should be: a little punk, a little Rat Pack, with lighting that makes everyone look 25. Oh, and the Black Manhattans don’t hurt.
Cummings, also songwriter/singer for the band Skaters and other projects (his beautiful “Hooray for None” - which I accidentally called “Hooray for No One” - is the outro here) first landed on my radar in 2008, when he was working at a Portland coffee shop owned by my husband.
“Back then, I felt like being a barista was a rock star job, like, you really made it,” says Cummings, who now knows the joys and stresses - applying for a votive candle permit, anyone? - of owning his own business.
Also discussed:
How Cummings was halfway tricked into buying Victoria!
The ruthlessness of the record industry
Getting sued before you’re even open
The most popular drink in New York City right now is…
Do people still flirt in bars? Depends on the bar
When Portland was weird in a good way
That STRFKR song you’ve heard a million times
Trivia night!
After the break, Cummings’ (other) favorite NYC bars, where to go for late-night grub, a recipe for the perfect 50/50, and much more!
Victoria! is located at 235 Eldridge St. NYC. Trivia night is Wednesday at 6:30. See you there?
