The smoking room

Two SU football players team up to create Marshall Street hookah bar

By: Daniel Bortz

Posted: 11/13/08

In a small bowling alley, in between frames, Niko Rechul and Mikhail Marinovich decided that it would be cool to open a hookah bar on Marshall Street.

That meeting took place this past summer. Now, almost three months later, the two Syracuse University students - both players on the SU football team - are preparing for tonight's grand opening of Hollywood Hookah, their smokehouse brainchild.

The lounge, located at 171 Marshall St. above J. Michael Shoes, will open its doors at 8 p.m. today. And after last Saturday night's soft opening, during which more than 600 people stopped by throughout the night, Rechul and Marinovich said they're expecting an even larger turnout.

Marinovich, a 20-year-old freshman and defensive end from California, said he has been going to hookah bars since he was 16 and has learned the ins and outs of running that type of business.

"Since I've been to so many, I know what to do, what not to do, what's good hookah, what's bad hookah," he said. "And between being on the football team, practicing every day, and then handling school, a lot people think, 'Oh, Mikhail, you don't have time to go out and have fun.' And then we took on this whole thing of opening a hookah lounge."

The 2,000-square-foot hookah bar boasts leather couches, wireless Internet and 42-inch flat-screen TVs - even ones for the bathrooms. As for the hookah and the tobacco itself, Marinovich and Rechul said the bar only serves Al Fakher Shisha brand tobacco because of its high quality.

Hollywood Hookah's menu offers 32 tobacco flavors, including banana split, vanilla coke and apple pie - so far the fan favorite among customers.

"We're students ourselves, so we know what students are looking for," Rechul said.
The co-owners operate the business with the help of about 12 people on staff, including servers, waiters and hosts.

As a freshman, Marinovich said he thinks the bar's location on Marshall Street will provide students under 21 with another type of entertainment.

"When you're under 21, you don't have that many options," he said. "Sure, you can go bowling - but that gets old. You can go to the movies - but how many movies can you see?"

Marinovich added that he and Rechul set out to reinvent the campus social scene by offering a place where college students of all ages can come, relax and interact in a welcoming environment.

To create that environment, Marinovich and Rechul chose to design two different lounges, each with its own theme and purpose. The first one is called "The Middle Eastern Lounge," which has a more traditional atmosphere with tapestries and red velvet couches. The second lounge, known as "The Hollywood Room," is complete with high-definition TVs, 13 leather couches and three spotlighted display guitars.

Marinovich said there are essentially two types of hookah bars: the upscale and often overpriced kind, and the low-key, commonly lesser quality lounge. He said in designing the two rooms for Hollywood Hookah, he and Rechul tried to capture the best of both worlds.

"I've always liked the upscale type of place, but they usually charge way too much for their hookah," Marinovich said. "And other times, I'm in the mood for just hanging out, quiet, just listening to some reggae in the corner, but those types of places usually have cigarette burns in the couches and you don't want to sit without putting down a towel first."

So far, customers such as Emily Bush said they enjoy the bar's welcoming environment.
"I love the atmosphere and the owners are really personable," said Bush, a senior bioengineer major. "It's like a home away from home."

Rechul said he wants students to be able to come to the hookah bar and take their minds off schoolwork.

"Students need to get away from their everyday academics, and that's what Hollywood Hookah gives them," Rechul said.
But in an effort to create that getaway, Rechul said he and Marinovich have lost sleep and energy.

"We're exhausted 24/7," he said. Rechul and Marinovich have been using Mondays - their one day of the week off from football - to handle the business.

Despite the sacrifices he and Marinovich have had to make, Rechul said he thinks the hard work will all pay off in the end.

"Just from the last couple days of business, we've brought in a fair amount of revenue," Rechul said. "It looks like we may make more than what we expected."

Rechul added that some of the customers have said they were surprised by the lounge's décor. "We've had people say things like, 'We heard football players were starting this place and we're surprised that it's so nice.'

"I guess they were expecting holes in the walls," Rechul said with a laugh.

dsbortz@syr.edu