OT-RIP Mitch's Place
The Michigan Daily is reporting that Mitch's Place on South U abruptly closed for good last night because of money issues and the recession.
Mitch's was kind of trashy and I don't think it was anybody's favorite bar in Ann Arbor (or even on South U), but nonetheless who among us can't say that some nights we just randomly ended up at Mitch's?
I, for one, know that I'll miss their cheapish drinks and strange location. And hopefully Packard Pub ends up being a good bar when it opens.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
I remember this place fondly, I think there was some kind of special on Tuesdays so we always went then. Although that was back in 2004 so I could be completely off on which night my friends and I went.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^
$1 pitchers Monday and Wednesday. When I lived at South U and Linden and it was still in the old spot, it was my favorite bar.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:15 PM ^
Yeah that sounds right, all I remember for sure that it was still in the old spot up the stairs. I didn't even know it was moved, where did it go?
February 9th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
At the corner diagonally from it, upstairs. Up above where McDonalds used to be, then was it Kaplan...?
February 9th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^
it's where the old Princeton Review offices were. I used to go straight from my Princeton Review class across the street to Mitch's on wednesdays. $1 pitchers were incredible. Then it shut down for a year (2005) and then moved to the other corner above Bubble Tea.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:04 PM ^
Jerry Sprague, one man band on Tuesday's. Mitch's on Tuesday's, Touchdown's on Wednesdays, Scorekeepers on Thursdays, how did I ever get anything done?
February 9th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
Mitch's went from one of the most popular bars on South U in 2005, to closed for almost two years, to one of the worst bars on South U, to closed for good. Why did it move again?
February 9th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
Though don't bet on it, that U-M has been trying to get total control of that building for years. Pricing everyone out of it.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^
The landlord (First Martin Corp, owned by Bill Martin) didn't renew the lease so they could fill it with something from the University.
Old Mitch's was beyond tremendous. New Mitch's was a shell of its former self.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^
Not that it was just their choice, but the new locale was doomed for failure. The best part of Mitch's was the view...
Man, are there any cool bars left in Ann Arbor? I mean, ones you can do more than drink? (Sure, Red Hawk has a great selection of beers...but not a good place to watch the game). Touchdown's become the Blue Leprechaun (really?), Mitch's gone...Rick's and Scorekeepers have always sucked...Charlie's keeps changing it's set up every other year... I guess if you want a good Irish Bar, we've got that, but other than that...
February 9th, 2010 at 1:01 PM ^
Couple of places have pool tables tucked away in them, but that's the size of it these days.
Bubble Island has a better social scene than half the bars out there, at least they have games. I fond memories of spiking my green tea with booze and playing Jenga or Hungry Hungy Hippos until they closed down. It sure beat sitting around in The Jug inhaling smoke, although peeing in the trough is a required right of passage in AA.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:16 PM ^
Well Said. Pissing in a trough next to Leon Hart is something I will fondly remember for the rest of my days, in an as-hetero-as-possible way.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
Leon Hall and Mike Hart's love child...?
February 9th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
Mike Hart's real name is Leon.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^
I swear I was on South U not too long ago...and admittedly, everything there BUT Charlie's and China Gate seems to chance name or space every other week...but BIT is gone?
At the very least you could look in there and see a nice group of hotties...
February 9th, 2010 at 1:21 PM ^
I believe it was closed for a bit over the summer because they were doing some remodeling, but it's definitely still open. Went there just the other day (with the lady, of course). I do love their mochi ice cream. Delicious.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:23 PM ^
No, no, Bubble Island is still there. In fact a competing place took over half of Middle Earth.
Bubble Island is really underrated for meeting girls. It's 100x easier to get some cute girls to sit down and play a board game with you than it is to try to talk to a girl in some smokey bar while your friends scream at you to do shots with him.
For you youngins, go to Bubble Island with a couple friends, ideally a mixed gender group so as to advertise to girls that at least some girls can stand to be around you, grab multiplayer game and invite little clusters of girls to play with you.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^
I wish it had been around when I was a student. I would have spent every sober moment there. (Touchdown's, get drunk, sober up at Tea, meet women, get rejected, go back to Touchdown's to get drunk again...). Wouldn't even have had to go back to the apartment (both of mine were closest to South U anyway); didn't sleep anyway.
February 9th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^
yuck. touchdowns.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^
Because if you're young, and only knew it when the Greek mafia had bought it and everything up (like the dark days of the Brown Jug too), then yah, it sucked. Tried to turn it into a New York style club.
If you're old enough to remember when it was a sports bar with chairs and tabled, and the cool murals on the walls, when it was about the games and supplemented it with some Friday night dancing, then, well, you're wrong. 10 cent wings, trivia, and the hottest wait staff in town.
But by the time it became The B.L., it was a mercy killing. Though calling the place that kinda pisses on it's grave.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
is incredible
February 9th, 2010 at 1:32 PM ^
For 2 1/2 months of the year when the weather is nice...
February 9th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
Going back further in time ...
• The Del Rio closed
• Felipe graduated and stopped serving at Old Town
• The 8 Ball stopped serving $0.75 Frog Islands (though I think the brewery folded)
February 9th, 2010 at 3:16 PM ^
Congrats to Felipe! What did it take, 15 years?
I haven't been to the 8 Ball since they featured $.75 Carlings!
February 9th, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^
Best selection of beers is Ashley's, but that has the game problem. I think Charley's is the best bar on campus for watching games and/or just hanging out, but it'd be nice if they reacquired that other section that's been vacant since it reopened. My favorite bar in AA is Conor O'Neill's, hands down. One of my favorite times ever was when St. Patrick's Day was on the first Saturday of March Madness. Good friends, good beer, good food (Irish breakfast!!!), good games, and good music. Perfect day - plus I think it was in the mid-fifties that day too.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:16 PM ^
Just FYI, Underground Printing, the supplier of MGoBlog merchandise now has a nice storefront over in the section of the building Charlie's abandon.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:22 PM ^
Ashley's has the beer selection, and not much else. And Connor O'Neil's is the a great brew pub.
Tough I spent most of my Paddy's/Tourney Days/Weekends at Touchdown's...back when it was cool. And not so skeevy.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
The Arena. Two dollar domestics, tons of big screens. That this place isn't crowded for every major game is a freaking travesty.
Seriously, check this place out, it is awesome.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^
Whether it's the layout, the flow, the tv setup, the location...for some reason that place has never done it for me. I "should" like it, as it's a true sports bar. Maybe it just never had that college town vibe to me, and felt too much like a bar in any other town, in decor and staff.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:46 PM ^
Female GSIs wearing their favorite team's jersey from around the country while they check papers and get entirely too excited about their team and greasy bar food = college town vibe to me. But fair play, if you don't like it you don't like it. I just feel like a lot of people haven't even tried it when they should.
Why anybody over the age of 21 goes to any of the South U bars (unless it's to get laid at Rick's) is beyond me, frankly. I suppose Charley's has decent drink specials after 10.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:21 PM ^
I'm not sure when you were at UM (I was there from 2004 - 2008), but TDs has always been bad. Always.
Skeeps and Rick's were the solid joints; Charlie's had a legit Happy Hour; The Jug was lame; and, basically, everything on State St. was awful boring.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^
And be qualified to say "always".
February 9th, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^
Sorry - I meant in my four years there.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:34 PM ^
In your four years there, I'd agree.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
mitch's used to be in a different spot and it wasn't trashy then. i'm sure something will replace it.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^
Tuesday night at Mitch's used to be one of the best nights of the week. Cheap pitchers, good crowd.
Definitely sad to see them go, though they've definitely been effectively gone for years.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:10 PM ^
It was my favorite bar back when it was at the old spot and I lived at South Forest and South U. I love how it kept the metal bikes as decoration from the building's days as "Bicycle Jim's." It will be missed.
(But yeah, the new incarnation sucked).
February 9th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
I celebrated my 21st birthday - back in '98 when it was upstairs on South U. Those unremembered memories will always be forgotten; it's sad to see Mitch's go.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:27 PM ^
Upstairs at Mitch's was where I did my first shot at midnight when I turned 21.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^
Same here, back in '02. A nice little off-the-beaten path bar if you didn't want to deal with the usual meat markets like Rick's, and playing quarters was always a nice time-waster. I also remember getting hammered enough that I apparently started acting like a Zamboni and cleaning the tables with a little roar. Not my proudest moment, but it is a little sad to hear the bar is closing.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
Those stairs were dangerous after several pitchers
February 9th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^
Rumor has it that Packard Pub at the corner of Packard and State will open on Friday. Hopefully it won't suck.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
...of opening a bar in that area for years. Nothing particular close for those that live down there (like I did), closest bar during sporting events, and when they're not going on, the bar most likely to attract athletes (thus most likely to attract girls, and thus everybody else). Could have made a mint...rather than the tons of stuff that has been on that corner.
But then, I wanted to open a BW3's, before they were everywhere...and even like the location it's in now, but they weren't interested in selling/renting till they developed it as it is now. But that was empty for years, too.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:37 PM ^
What is that taking over? Only thing I can think of is taking over the place next to Moe's Sporting Goods (was a bread place, but may have changed over the past couple of years). Regardless, that place should make a killing as there are no bars down that way.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
Formerly a coffee shop formerly a Pinball Pete's, formerly...
But it's not next to Moe's, it's across the street. The corner without the party stores, across from Bell's.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
Isn't there another sporting goods place on that corner of State and Packard (Moe's is on North U, I think...my mistake).
February 9th, 2010 at 2:00 PM ^
It's the second Moe's shop. Moe's by the Stadium. At least it was...haven't looked lately. Might not be around anymore.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^
Ah Mitch's (the old one); one of my favorite old haunts back in college. Closed 2nd semester my senior year and I was despondent. How else was I going to get ultra cheap pitchers on Monday's and Wednesday's? I contributed my fair share of nicks on tables in the bar due to playing quarters all the time. Man I miss that place; so many good times.