Report: Blackbird to Fly at Former Lakeside Lounge

Before the carnage

April 30, 2012 was a somber day for the Lower East Side, for this was the last night on earth for the Lakeside Lounge. The Avenue B haunt was a perennial Boogie favorite, and now three months on, it’s still missed.

There’s been some chatter recently about the next venture to open here, its pedigree, and concept. Contrary to some talk of a high-end “gentrifier” whiskey joint, sources tell us that the address-straddling space will become a rock n roll nightspot called Blackbird.

Alabama Shakes, December 2011

Blackbird will be owned and operated by Lakeside principal Laura McCarthy and a current “bartender from Niagara.” We are told that the nightspot is

Definitely NOT a whiskey bar. And not a dive. Just a bar for people who don’t want to be part of the woo-woo scene and who are too smart to wait in line for an $22 cocktail. [It's] intended to be a beautiful but comfortable bar with a rock & roll vibe.

Our first reaction is that it kinda sounds like Fontana’s on Eldridge Street.  But now without the live music component.  Indeed, documents delivered to Community Board 3 ahead of this month’s SLA meeting indicate that, unlike its predecessor, public performance is not in the cards for this establishment.