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The Brooklyn Paper / John N. Barclay

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On a recent Monday night, Williamsburg’s newest sports bar was packed. Everyone in Mulholland’s had one thing in common: a thirst for free beer.

Free beer may, in fact, be the only explanation for beefy fraternity types in football jerseys and the neighborhood’s trademarked bespectacled hipster to be mingling; when I returned the following Wednesday, the bar had lost the grandeur of its opening and was nearly empty.

Far from the energetic nightspots that Billyburg is known for, Mulholland’s felt more like a bar in a strip mall.

But Sean Mulholland, who owns the watering hole along with his brother Bill, insisted that the neighborhood’s chic, young residents are really “closet sports fans.”

The Mulholland brothers spent years working in bars, clubs and restaurants — most recently Eugene, a glossy lounge in Manhattan — and had been looking to buy their own spot for the past two years.

Although they initially looked at Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Williamsburg’s cheaper rents and less commercial vibe won them over.

“We just fell in love with the neighborhood,” said Sean. “It’s like a small town — everyone’s really sweet. It’s almost like there’s a Midwest feel, which we think is awesome!”

Local residents might quibble with his assertion that they’re akin to Midwesterners, but the Grand Street corridor is quickly becoming more high-end, and therefore more open to a wider variety of nightlife options.

The brothers have made it a life goal to never have a job where they can’t wear jeans and T-shirts (“I don’t own a suit,” Sean proudly proclaimed), but they do worry that they may not be cool enough for their new surroundings. To remedy this, Sean is open to the idea of using the digital screens to display photography or other artwork.

“Photography is my hobby, my obsession, my compulsion,” he said. “Sports pay the bills, but we like a lot of different stuff.”

Still, locals are hesitant to put down their cans of Pabst and bask in the glow of plasma televisions.

“Is this what I can attribute the growing number of cargo shorts and ball caps on the L train to?” wondered Holly Morganelli, a neighborhood resident. “And does this mean there will be sorority girls pounding Bloody Marys at the Lodge during my brunch?”

Another neighborhood resident, Michael Porsche, who fits the bill of both emaciated hipster and sports fan, said he thought the place was great, and looked forward to watching his beloved Boston Red Sox at Mulholland’s.

“I’ve been waiting two years for a real sports bar to open up in Williamsburg,” he told us. “I hope they’re here for good.”

That should be music to the ears of Sean Mulholland, who doesn’t have much patience for the neighborhood’s elitism.

“We serve drinks,” he said, “we don’t cure cancer.”

Still, a user on the popular neighborhood message board Williamsboard.com, posted “Mulholland’s Law,” a set of posted rules the brothers intended to be quirkily irreverent (but which seems to have backfired). The board’s users called the spot, “where the Upper East Side goes to get some street cred in Brooklyn.”

As an olive branch of sorts, the bar will be offering free beer on Mondays from 7 to 9 pm. The real questions now is who will be there enjoying it?

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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