![\"\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/SG_Exterior_rgb.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a>Mitch\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was welcome news to many Mitch\u2019s fans. \u201cThere are so few things left on Hillsborough Street from when I was there,\u201d says Greg Perkins \u201989, an insurance broker from Mount Airy, N.C. Perkins remembers waiting for a friend outside Dabney Hall before an afternoon class. \u201cMy buddy would come by and say, \u2018Let\u2019s go to lunch at Mitch\u2019s.\u2019 And I knew we\u2019d never make that class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy buddy would come by and say, \u2018Let\u2019s go to lunch at Mitch\u2019s.\u2019 And I knew we\u2019d never make that class.\u201d \u2014 Greg Perkins \u201989<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Mitch\u2019s was shut down for most of the pandemic, and Hazouri, 80, had been considering closing the tavern for good. He\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when Van Alston and Chris Post came in. Alston was having coffee at Cup A Joe with NC State wrestling coach Pat Popolizio\u2009\u2014\u2006Alston is a huge supporter of the program\u2009\u2014\u2009when he ran into Hazouri. \u201cWhen he said he was turning in the notice on his lease, I said, \u2018Gosh, I wish you\u2019d gotten in touch with me,\u2019\u2019\u2019 Alston says. \u201cI said, \u2018We just can\u2019t have Mitch\u2019s leave.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGosh, I wish you\u2019d gotten in touch with me. We just can\u2019t have Mitch\u2019s leave.\u201d\u00a0 \u2014 Van Alston<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The next morning, Hazouri met with Alston and Post (who are co-owners of Slim\u2019s and Mo-Jo\u2019s Burgers in Raleigh) and hatched a plan. The reopening is a collaboration, with Hazouri still involved in the operations. \u201cThey both value Mitch\u2019s as a place,\u201d Hazouri says. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to see important things disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important things, to the discerning tavern goer, are things that make Mitch\u2019s, well, Mitch\u2019s. There\u2019s 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. (\u201cI caught it,\u201d Hazouri says, giving a pre-opening tour. \u201cI caught it at an auction in Fuquay-Varina for $25.\u201d) 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 Caf\u00e9 in downtown Raleigh (now Berkeley\u2019s) and the Peter Pan restaurant that was once on Hillsborough Street near St. Mary\u2019s. Over one of the booths is an autographed picture of Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner from the 1988 movie Bull Durham<\/em>, part of which was filmed at Mitch\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019t graduate, spent plenty of time in the back room during college and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s Dumplings and the site of the old Darryl\u2019s at the corner of Oberlin Road.) The space where Mitch\u2019s is now originally was a rooming house called the \u201cSt. Moritz Apartments,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>