Nickel City Gritty: Jack Rabbit
For those of us who live in Buffalo, you know that we love our nightlife. Bars, restaurants, music venues, etc. That’s why when the pandemic happened in 2020, it was such a huge blow to the entire city. Thankfully, so many places have pulled through and are thriving. In fact, some new businesses have actually opened up recently, bringing life to otherwise stagnant buildings.
One of these businesses is Jack Rabbit, a bar/restaurant/and music venue in one. It took over the building that once housed JP Bullfeathers, and is a welcome addition to the Elmwood Village. I was able to sit down with Josh Mullin and Leacel Hillenbrand of Jack Rabbit to discuss how their business came to be, dumb ways that they’ve been injured, and Josh’s extreme hatred and fear of snakes.
This is Nickel City Gritty, and this is Josh and Leacel of Jack Rabbit.
Tell me about how Jack Rabbit got started.
Josh: Oh my goodness. Well, Jake and I were managing Thin Man on Elmwood, and we were really enjoying what we were doing. I had this concept in my head for a small bar and a small rock club, local bands and local everything. Jake came into the mix and was kind of the other piece of that puzzle. The good thing about there was that they gave us a lot of freedom to do whatever we wanted, and that was kind of our arrangement. We were like, “We want to turn your brewery into a music venue.” We were able to work out a lot of things and it was kind of like putting a square peg into a round hole because it wasn’t built for it. There wasn’t a stage or anything. We were trying to force a music venue into a restaurant. We were loving it and everything was great but one day we just looked at each other and decided that it was time to do our own thing. We were looking around at spots and this was the first and the only building that we cared about and looked at. That’s basically it. I started the business plan for this in 2018 and worked through all of the details and about 5 minutes before we were supposed to sign the papers, Covid happened. Unfortunately we weren’t going to sign a lease on a building we weren’t legally able to operate in, so we had to see how everything played out and then we could talk. Then Jake and I decided to ride a bike across the country and work out things, sitting around campfires talking about our dreams and our concept and as soon as we got back it was basically nose to the grindstone. We had to work out a lot of different things and it was a crazy rollercoaster like 2020 was for everybody. But January 1, 2021 we were walking in the building with tools and our contractor, well that’s kind of a lie. We walked in with Windex and garbage bags *laughs* So we worked on it and by that point Leacel and Simon were in the mix and we all came together and it’s almost like 2020 didn’t happen as we were able to just resume January 2021.
If you could describe your personal style, like how you dress, how would you do it?
Josh: Black.
Leacel: Black. But I have pink on today!
J: It’s a weird day for me because my jeans aren’t black, they typically are. It’s nice in a restaurant because you’re constantly getting dirty and when you wear black you can just kind of wipe it off or rub it in.
L: Yeah, like if you get wet you really can’t tell. I’ve been adding color recently, though! Pink shirt today, white yesterday.
J: I think it’s because of summer and Pride month and everything. Every bar you go to is like black and grey, rustic or industrial. We didn’t want that. We were like fuck it, let’s paint it purple. Let’s get a disco ball, let’s do bright colors, we’ll do whatever we want. People are getting tired of being at their house for the last year and they just want to go out and have fun. Fun was just the number one thing in everything.
What is your guilty pleasure?
L: I love ice cream. I love all equally. Especially colored ice cream. There’s this spot in San Diego that has this crazy dyed ice cream. You know like when you were a kid there was this vanilla that was just crazy rainbow colored? That one’s fun.
J: You’re talking about guilty pleasures? I think my Spotify playlist. I’ve got Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber on there. It’s embarrassing.
L: Ooohh also Vanderpump Rules. That’s a guilty pleasure.
Speaking of Spotify, what’s on your playlist? What do you like to listen to?
J: Lately a lot of ELO. A weird amount of ELO. In here we play a lot of Queen, a lot of 90’s hip hop, anything that’s a lot of fun. 70’s rock and roll is great, 80’s is fine but not our vibe, 90’s grunge is okay but also not our vibe either- we have purple walls!
L: I’ve been waking up to Dua Lipa every morning for the past two weeks. But I’ll never get out of my emo screamo phase.
J: Yeah, if I’m in my car I’m probably listening to Alkaline Trio.
What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
L: I bought, and it’s still in my room, a little tv. It was $98. My mom said that I could only have a tv in my room if I bought it myself. I was 14.
J: I remember that I bought a bike when I was 10. and I remember using my own money for that. It was at a garage sale. I had a smaller bike but I wanted a bigger one because that’s what all of the other kids had. My younger brother and I would always shovel driveways in the winter for a couple bucks on our street. Looking back we were horribly underpaid. But I bought this bike and it was $5 at a garage sale. I bought my own drum set when I was 14 all from the snow shoveling money and that was like $400 which was an astronomical amount of money. But the cymbals from that I still use today!
What is your spirit animal?
J: Lately my little dog Ludwig. He’s an English Bulldog Boxer. But like if I could be reincarnated as an animal? I feel like monkeys have a pretty cool existence.
What kind of a monkey?
J: Not the type that gets beaten up by the other monkeys! So like a chimp, those are the mean ones, right? That works! But I guess we should say a jack rabbit, right?
L: My favorite animal is a giraffe.
J: Hippo. I’m going to say hippo.
L: A hippo? They’re the most dangerous in the world!
J: Yeah I know but you’d never know that! They’re just lazy and slow but then they can strike.
L: Okay so at the zoo, the gorillas are my favorite. The gorillas and the giraffes, I always like to go see those.
What is your biggest fear?
L: Heights. Hands down. And I’m going to skydiving on Sunday.
J: I always have a reoccurring “sit me up in bed” nightmare that I forgot something very important. So that’s what it’s been lately. But in general a fear? Fucking snakes! Goddamn I hate snakes. I hate snakes more than anything! When we were on our bike trip, we had a long day. It was 100 miles with nothing in between, just desert. There’s nothing. No shade, no water, nothing. What people didn’t tell us was that the road would be covered in snakes. They were out sunning and the snakes have learned that they can’t be in the road where the traffic is because then they get run over, so they are on the shoulder. And these are like 6 foot long bull snakes. Which is fine because you just pedal along and run right over them, but if they see you coming they coil up, and then if you hit a coiled snake you get thrown off your bike into a pile of snakes. So then you’re laying on hot pavement next to a snake. It’s awful.
What’s one of the dumbest ways you’ve been injured?
L: When I was in theater school I went to jump off the edge of the stage but my foot didn’t quite make it off the edge of the stage and I snapped my toes. My pinky toe is still sideways.
J: Looking back, I have a boxer’s fracture on my right hand and it was just from being in a fight when I was 21 and an idiot. Violence never solves anything, ya know? But for some reason I did and I broke my right hand and it hurts every day and it reminds me to never punch somebody like that again.
If you were a planet, what would your core be made out of?
J: Gummy bears. I’m sticking with it.
L: Pasta probably. Spaghetti. But no red sauce. Just butter and cheese.
If a theme song played every time you entered the room, what would it be?
J: Man, I feel like a woman… I’ve been asked this before and it’s such a tough one.
L: Josh, I’m just picturing Miley Cyrus.
J: Yeah, there ya go! Golden G-String by Miley Cyrus for Leacel.
Other than yours, what are some of your favorite bars and restaurants in Buffalo?
J: Mister Goodbar is my favorite bar of all time. The Pink is the best.
L: The Pink is my favorite.
J: I think The Pink is going to be the last dive bar on the planet. I love ABV, it’s got a close personal spot in my heart. I love Ballyhoo a lot.
L: Billy Club is probably my most frequented restaurant I think. I think I only go to like four places!
If there was a liquid that could flow out of each of your pointer fingers, what would they be?
L: Blue Gatorade.
J: Arizona Iced Tea Green Tea flavor. I drink a can of that every day at least. And the other one? Coffee. But it would have to be iced in the summer and hot in the winter.
L: Okay, so Blue Gatorade and whiskey.
The last question that I always ask everyone is, what do you want to be when you grow up?
L: Proud.
J: Yeah, appreciated I guess. Loved. I’m really happy with the way things are going. I just want to keep doing things. Never get bored. Never having to be mad about going to work. Being excited about whatever I’m doing. Projects, not jobs.