{"id":6739,"date":"2021-10-18T09:48:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T13:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6739"},"modified":"2025-08-24T12:31:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:31:02","slug":"young-ethels-serving-drinks-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/10\/18\/young-ethels-serving-drinks-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Ethel\u2019s: Serving Drinks and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mary Racine and her husband Tim had over 10 years of experience when they chose to open their bar. Mary had worked in bars for most of her adult life, and Tim drank in them. They met six years ago at The Love Bar in New York City where Mary worked. Tim was one of the many performers at the People’s Improv Theatre that The Love Bar operated from. It wasn’t love at first sight. Their relationship started as a friendship between two artists that grew into something more. Tim proposed four months after they started dating. They married after four more months.<\/p>\n

The idea of opening a bar had been in the back of Mary’s mind for a while. Mary had experience bartending and managing. She knew what it took to run a successful bar. She knew how to order inventory, make schedules and budgets. Mary and Tim worked on business plans while she managed the popular Brooklyn spot, Sycamore Bar. Sycamore Bar not only is a bar but also a flower shop. Being unique helped Sycamore Bar stand out in a big city. With this in mind, Mary dreamed of Young Ethel’s. The name reflected her idea of a bar for young people with old souls. This is seen in the decor, a style aptly called \u201cgrandma chic.\u201d The bar top is copper leaf, standing out against dark teal patterned wallpaper and matching lights. The color scheme continues into the back, where guests sit on pink velvet couches and watch movies on the big screen.<\/p>\n

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Young Ethel’s set up outdoor seating to follow along with NYC Covid-19 regulations.<\/p><\/div>\n

Young Ethel’s is \u201can elevated dive bar.\u201d Mary wanted to bring affordable drinks to Park Slope, a neighborhood known for its high living costs. But the low prices don’t mean poor quality. The bar serves handcrafted cocktails and craft beers to thirsty customers. Events such as art markets, karaoke and comedy nights are held regularly. In February 2020, they hosted a friend’s wedding.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The success wasn’t easy. From the start, there were problems with the building and getting banks to offer loans. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” Tim laughed, sitting at the bar. “But the business people would listen to me and not her, so I had to kind of pretend I knew what I was talking about.” Since opening, Tim has taken on a marketing role. He runs Young Ethel’s TikTok and Instagram accounts, creating funny, retro-style video commercials to promote the bar.<\/p>\n

Shortly after opening, a Manhattan bar tried to sue. It claimed that the Racines stole the name Ethel. With the help of a lawyer friend, Mary and Tim got the suit dropped, and the other bar has since shut down.<\/p>\n

Less than eight months after opening in September 2019, New York shut down due to the Coronavirus. Indoor dining was no longer allowed. But Mary and Tim kept the bar open for takeout orders. “We had a staff to take care of and our bills to pay,” Mary said. “It was scary, but we had to do something.” Their love for the staff and their vision behind Young Ethel’s is the key to their success.<\/p>\n

When many New York bars shut their doors for good, Young Ethel’s stayed open. This September, Young Ethel’s will celebrate their second birthday by doing what they do best: serving drinks and a good time.<\/p>\n

Young Ethel’s is located at 506 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Racine and her husband Tim had over 10 years of experience when they chose to open their bar. Mary had worked in bars for most of her adult life, and Tim drank in them. They met six years ago at The Love Bar in New York City where Mary worked. Tim was one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8244,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6739\/revisions\/8244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}