One More Round

A beloved bowling alley is now a Target. A sleek hotel rises above the spot where the denizens of Sadlack’s once gathered.

But even on Hillsborough Street, some things don’t change.

Mitch’s Tavern, which was on the verge of closing its doors for good in 2021, reopened in May thanks to a couple of longtime patrons who teamed up with owner Mitch Hazouri to breathe new life into the bar, which has been in business for some 50 years.

It was welcome news to many Mitch’s fans. “There are so few things left on Hillsborough Street from when I was there,” says Greg Perkins ’89, an insurance broker from Mount Airy, N.C. Perkins remembers waiting for a friend outside Dabney Hall before an afternoon class. “My buddy would come by and say, ‘Let’s go to lunch at Mitch’s.’ And I knew we’d never make that class.”

“My buddy would come by and say, ‘Let’s go to lunch at Mitch’s.’ And I knew we’d never make that class.” — Greg Perkins ’89

Mitch’s was shut down for most of the pandemic, and Hazouri, 80, had been considering closing the tavern for good. He’d weathered disruptions from a street revitalization project and watched as areas like Glenwood South became more of a destination spot for students ready for a night out. By last fall, he had decided not to renew his lease.

That’s when Van Alston and Chris Post came in. Alston was having coffee at Cup A Joe with NC State wrestling coach Pat Popolizio — Alston is a huge supporter of the program — when he ran into Hazouri. “When he said he was turning in the notice on his lease, I said, ‘Gosh, I wish you’d gotten in touch with me,’’’ Alston says. “I said, ‘We just can’t have Mitch’s leave.’”

“Gosh, I wish you’d gotten in touch with me. We just can’t have Mitch’s leave.”  — Van Alston

The next morning, Hazouri met with Alston and Post (who are co-owners of Slim’s and Mo-Jo’s Burgers in Raleigh) and hatched a plan. The reopening is a collaboration, with Hazouri still involved in the operations. “They both value Mitch’s as a place,” Hazouri says. “They don’t want to see important things disappear.”

Important things, to the discerning tavern goer, are things that make Mitch’s, well, Mitch’s. There’s the eclectic collection of art (reproductions and originals) in gilded frames. (One has a tear that Hazouri carefully mended after a fight.) The mounted marlin over the bar. (“I caught it,” Hazouri says, giving a pre-opening tour. “I caught it at an auction in Fuquay-Varina for $25.”) Old church pews, including a small one that came from the chapel of the now-closed Catholic orphanage in Raleigh, provide seating. Along the walls are 1940s-era wooden booths from the Hollywood Café in downtown Raleigh (now Berkeley’s) and the Peter Pan restaurant that was once on Hillsborough Street near St. Mary’s. Over one of the booths is an autographed picture of Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner from the 1988 movie Bull Durham, part of which was filmed at Mitch’s.

Renovations were minimal. Everything got a deep cleaning, a broken window was fixed and massive tangles of wires that connected to bulky TV screens at the bar, the register and security system were removed. Worn-out chairs were replaced with lookalikes. And a pool table was returned to the back room. Alston and Post, both of whom attended NC State but didn’t graduate, spent plenty of time in the back room during college and beyond.

The building, at 2426 Hillsborough St., dates back to 1910 and appears to be one of the first commercial buildings to operate on the street. (The first was likely 1200 Hillsborough St., currently David’s Dumplings and the site of the old Darryl’s at the corner of Oberlin Road.) The space where Mitch’s is now originally was a rooming house called the “St. Moritz Apartments,” according to a filing with the National Register of Historic Places on the West Raleigh neighborhood. The first floor of the building (where Global Village Coffee is now) was originally a grocery store with a small bar next door.

The journey from second-story rooming house to tavern started in the 1960s. In 1967, The Jolly Knave opened where the apartments once were. The place was known for beach music and a dance floor with lots of shagging. At the time, Hazouri, who had studied for a graduate degree in chemistry at NC State, was teaching chemistry at nearby Broughton High School and picking up odd jobs for extra cash. He made $100 a week working at a pool hall (that was later the site of Two Guys). After work, he’d stop at The Jolly Knave and get a beer. In addition to shag dancing, the place had a lot of sports gamblers, too. “The vice squad was always there,” Hazouri says. One night in 1972, he spoke to the owner, who said he was going to sell the business. “I bought it on time,” Hazouri says  — no money upfront, with payments spread over years.

“I bought it on time,” Hazouri says — no money upfront, with payments spread over years.

“At the time, it was a juke box and a big dance floor,” he says. Two years later, he got rid of the dance floor and the juke box, put in the old booths and church pews and added foosball tables. And he got a tape player with speakers and started blasting the Rolling Stones and The Who. The place was packed on weekend nights. Becky Bumgardner ’82 worked her way through school tending bar at Mitch’s. “Thursday nights were slammed — That was chemistry test day,” says Bumgardner, who lives in Ocala, Fla., and is the senior philanthropic gift officer for the V Foundation. Back then, the drinking age was 18, and Hazouri would station himself at the top of the stairs to keep out the local high schoolers he recognized.

Those stairs, the same dark wood they’ve always been, will spark memories for anyone who spent time in Mitch’s. They’ve been refinished. But they still bear the marks of footsteps dating back some 50 years, ready for a new generation.