Author Ernest Hemingway wrote, “Don't bother with churches, government buildings or city squares, if you want to know about a culture, spend a night in its bars” and on Friday night in the city’s East Hills neighborhood is a chance to celebrate The Meanwhile’s tenth anniversary and see first hand why it feels like the living embodiment of this famous quote.
For starters, The Meanwhile represents the power of sweat equity as brother and sister owners, Jeff and Tami VanderBerg, both toiled away with friends and contractors to deliver a modern iconic bar in our city.
And sure it has changed drastically since the banning of smoking in bars in Michigan, it never lost any of its charm in the wake of smoke clearing enabling more to freely enter their doors.
Over the years, The Meanwhile (as referred to by the locals) has become a very welcoming space not just to the residents of this neighborhood but to the overall community as they have hosted art openings, assisted startups, produced original T-shirts, and created one of the most relaxing patio settings in the city where conversation between locals spark easily in this casual setting out back.
They have provided a model for businesses on the street as they’ve collaborated with others on the street like their long-term Meanwhile Film Series in partnership with the Wealthy Theatre brokered by the soon to depart (and sorely missed) Community Media Center’s Theatre Director Erin Wilson. (We will miss you, Erin.)
They even minted their own currency as captured in this National Public Radio
story from Kaomi Goetz.
Rapid Growth has been there since the beginning to observe and celebrate. We even created this
movie about the opening of the bar back in 2007.
We know you have a lot of choices of where to land this Friday, but why not stop in for a quick drink and conversation in a bar that has always been a tiny micro-system of our ever-evolving city. The Meanwhile is even a great place to create a kick ass selfie with a giant hammerhead shark that hangs behind the bar.
Congrats on ten fantastic years, The Meanwhile! We can’t imagine our city without you.