I happened to be having a beer with Boxcar co-owner Patryk Drozd yesterday afternoon when his phone started blowing up. The Boxcar GM, Tadia, had made the following announcement on IG:
“We received some heartbreaking news yesterday. Unfortunately, the building is being sold and we have only one month left before we have to be out. We will be trying to contact the new owners to ask if we can work out any possibility of having a bit more time in our beloved bar. But chances are slim, and it’s looking like our last day will be April 30th. We are shocked with how quickly this is all happening feel at a loss for words. Thank you all for your support over the years. The community and friendships that have been built here are more wonderful than we could have ever imagined. We love you all so much. Please come see us during our last few weeks.”
I can’t imagine what this must feel like for Patryk, Ezra Kish (co-owner), Tadia and the whole family at The Boxcar.
Also a bummer: Pizzaria Farina is named on the same eviction notice.
30 days is an asshole move.
Patrick’s first concern was his staff (he had been making calls around town to find positions for the people who work at The Boxcar so that they wouldn’t have to panic). I don’t know the building owners, but my guess is that they were not making any calls or even thinking about what it feels like to have the carpet pulled from underneath you with only one month to pay bills, pack up, clear out, find a new job, and say goodbye to a business that you poured your heart into for eight years.
The Boxcar could use your support over the next few weeks… head in for a drink, tip well and pay your respects.
Slip back in time to December 2014, when The Boxcar was getting ready to open its doors:
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such devastating news! and i hadn’t even considered that farina would be in the same boat.
There is more to this story than a great bar and a pizza joint (possibly) closing their doors. This building was owned by the Sahota family, the worst and most negligent slumlord in the city. The conditions in their SROs are deplorable — see closure of Balmoral and Regent hotels which have ultimately been purchased by the City with intent to convert to safe housing for folks who are otherwise on the street. Repairs that were reluctantly undertaken on ground floor of Cobalt led to closure of the Cobalt bar, I believe. Curious to know if the new building owner is a private entity or the City.
Long history and a complex set of issues that affects these bar & restaurant business owners but more significantly the city’s most vulnerable humans.