Manhattan’s loss is once again Brooklyn’s gain.
Legendary Manhattan art bar Max Fish is packing up and heading for Williamsburg.
Owner Ulli Rimkus plans to move the bar on Metropolitan Avenue between Wythe and Berry streets, right next to the Nitehawk Cinema.
Rumors of the move started to fly on blogs earlier in the week when someone posted a petition asking for support, and Community Board 1 chair Christopher H. Olechowski confirmed on Friday that owner Ulli Rimkus has notified the board that he planned to apply for a liquor license.
Rimkus declined to comment on the move.
Max Fish has been an institution on once-hip Ludlow Street since 1989. In recent years, the area has suffered as bars including Pink Pony and the Living Room were priced out in favor of an increasing onslaught of yogurt shops and boutiques.
‘The Lower East Side was over about five years ago,” said David Patterson, who has lived in Brooklyn for more than 20 years and works at a music shop. “Who goes there anymore?”
Williamsburg is increasingly becoming the landing spot for hip Meh-hattan businesses looking to move to a cooler locale. The world-famous experimental music club the Knitting Factory moved to our side of the West River from TriBeCa in 2009. That club moved into a space that had held the Luna Lounge, which had also moved here from Gaphattan.
Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurfaro@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2511. Follow her at twitter.com/DanielleFurfaro.
