So Long Victory, and Thank You

The first week I moved to Boerum Hill in 2008, I stopped into a tiny, tin-covered, coffee shop on the corner of State and Hoyt streets for my morning cup of coffee. I was greeted by a lithe man with peppered hair and tattooed arms.

“You must be new to the neighborhood," he said to me. "Welcome! This cup is on me!”

The man was co-owner Patrick Downey, and the coffee shop was The Victory, which is closing on January 22 after twelve years, upon eviction from the building’s owner.

My first experience at The Victory, followed by the many mornings that followed in which Patrick would exclaim when I’d walk through the door, “Good morning Justine!” and I would reply, “Good morning Patrick!”, exemplifies the extraordinary role that this small coffee shop has played for the residents of Boerum Hill over the last decade.

The Victory has become less a place to get your caffeine fix and more the water cooler of State Street. Inevitably, on any given day, patrons waiting in line will holler to each other by name, or in the summer spend time chatting in circles at the tables outside while their children or dogs play on the sidewalk. It is a community home base, where people meet and greet, or even go to alone knowing there will be a familiar face there.

Patrons of all sort convene; they bring their kids, their pets, their books, their newspapers, and they merge into one pulsating organism, undulating with camaraderie and community engagement along the narrow window counter seating or at the aluminum outdoor tables.

"The Victory provides a hub for neighborhood discourse," reflects Adrian Danchig-Waring, 26, who in the summer months rides his Vespa to The Victory from Carroll Gardens. "It is the quintessential New York cafe, the perfect morning ritual."

This will all soon come to a sorrowful end. Posted beneath the counter, under the espresso machine and next to the muffins, bagels, and assortment of British specialties like Hob Nobs and Christmas pudding, is an eviction notice dated December 20, 2010 from the building’s owner, Nat Hendricks. Mr. Downey, who in 2009 relocated back to Madison, Wisconsin to open a new Victory Café, and co-owner Tess Thatcher, have until the end of January to vacate.

“There was a lease until about four years ago, then Nat Hendricks refused to reissue it,” said Henry, a twenty-something Victory employee in a plaid flannel and knit cap.

Shortly after, Hendricks started shopping for new tenants.

“There’s a lot of speculation as to why we are being evicted,” Henry continued.

One speculation whispered among patrons and neighborhood residents involves a new café, the Little Sweet, which recently opened a stones-throw away on Hoyt Street in a building that Hendricks also owns.

An older man, with white hair and often seen wearing orange shoes and an orange vest, Mr. Hendricks is as much a neighborhood fixture as Mr. Downey has been, often walking his small dog past The Victory from State to Hoyt and back again.  He owns much of the block on Hoyt between State Street and Atlantic Avenue, and according to Henry, has been largely responsible for the flourishing businesses in that area. He has become recently, however, the recipient of much scrutiny.

In response to inquiry about the fate of The Victory and the events leading up to its eviction, Mr. Hendricks would only say:

“It’s in litigation. I will discuss it when the litigation is over.”

But isn’t The Victory for sure closing?

“Oh I don’t know, it’s in litigation,” was his reply.

And yet the atmosphere in this quaint café, in the weeks leading to its end, is still jovial. There is indeed an air of nostalgia, but it is still indicative of the joyfulness and neighborhood collectivity from which The Victory was born.

Max, who is five-and-a-half years old, with the blonde head of youth, took his first steps here.

“When I was little, I would be able to go behind there to where they cook,” he reminisces, pointing around the counter.

On Saturday, January 22, The Victory will close for good around noon, followed by a “rollicking Irish wake,” as another employee, Kevin, described the celebration. Downey will return from Wisconsin to join in the festivities.

“I think they’ve had a good run,” surmises Henry.

And indeed they have.