The Royale is a new community space in the heart of the Melrose District
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
There's a new community space in the Melrose District where you can spend your whole day: grab some coffee in the morning, get your hair done, get a drink and a bite after work and more.
State of play: After two years of renovation and construction, owners Mark Howard and Rocco Menaguale in late January opened The Royale, a "commercial collective" on Glenrosa Avenue just off Seventh Avenue.
- Cult Hair Salon and Spa; Lix Uptown Ice Cream; Rocco Designs, an architectural and interior design company; Scotty Kirby Photo and Design; Stem Swag, a florist; Window Coffee Bar; and Yumbar have all opened up shop.
- Your Health and Wellness, a med spa, is expected to open by the end of March.
- There's also a large outdoor common area where customers can — at least until summer — hang out in the sun.
Zoom in: Howard told Axios that the vision for The Royale was for the businesses to be "synergistic" and complement each other.
- They plan to host events, such as family-friendly movie nights.
Between the lines: The Royale is a former auto body shop, and Howard and Menaguale preserved much of the original structure in the new complex.
- Howard described the retro aesthetics as "'60s Vegas Strip meets kind of Palm Springs-Miami-South Beach kind of feel."
- The interior of Yumbar features brightly colored, prickly pear cactus-themed wraparound art, while the bar's open-air Flamingo Room features — you guessed it — a flamingo mural. Both were designed by Menaguale.
- "This Melrose mile is a very special mile," Howard said. "There's a lot of historical pieces to it, and there's a lot of new things as part of it."
What he's saying: "What I hope people get from this is they get a sense of belonging, a sense of safe space, a sense of community," Howard said.
- Customers "like having this bright space, this enjoyable space," he said, one that retained its community significance as part of an adaptive reuse project.
- He noted that the businesses are all independent and locally owned.
What's next: Howard said they're working to get the word out about The Royale now.
- They're also active in the campaign to abolish the reversible "suicide lane" on Seventh Avenue and want the city to make the street more walkable with a median and more tree cover.