After the noble St. George Theatre reopened its renovated doors on Hyatt Street and presented some of the hottest acts of the past 30 years, such as Air Supply or Quiet Riot, a bar in the same neighborhood followed up and now offers fresh cultural stimuli and beer, complementing the illustrious spirit of nearby Borough Hall.

After being pretty much a regular Irish neighborhood dive for the past years, the new place didn't just come up with a new bartender and reopened with a fresh coat of paint. No, there's much more. The old fashioned antique wood paneling has been covered with a timely display of brick drywall. A mantelpiece creates the ambience of a northern skiing lodge and scenting candles radiate warmth and associations of froot loops and expensive deodorant. And even though the bar itself only measures about 25 feet in length, the owners did not spare any efforts to provide the customers with two huge 50" wide screen TVs, that are conveniently placed at the corner walls on either side of the bar so that a full front-faced exposure is guaranteed at all times. At the time of my visit, the juke box was running as well, accompanied by the extremely loud guttural sounds of a scary but probably harmless drunkard, who celebrated his still undiscovered talent as the lead singer for any popular rock band.

With a cultural take-off like this, it's only a matter of time until we have all them tourists and young trendy people hitting our streets, just like in SoHo or Brooklyn or wherever that was.