The latest addition to the rapidly gentrifying Ossington Street strip, The Levack Block is half chichi drinks boutique, half hipster dance hole. In the first space, the front room, Levack’s intrepid bartenders sling booze at breakneck pace to a voracious yuppie crowd of late-20s to mid-30s partiers.

It’s a pretty big space as far as boutique bars go, but in spite of this the room still exudes a warm and inviting vibe, with welcoming floor-to-ceiling windows that cradle the entranceway, and exposed brick running behind the bar and down the full length of the north wall. Stained glass accents the upper panes of the front windows and adds a cozy, old-world bohemian feel to the room. This is complimented by the vintage bank tellers’ grill suspended above the darkly stained bar, and the eclectic array of old lamps and chandeliers that glow dangling from the high ceiling.

Levack also serves soups and sandwiches in this room, with enough tables to accommodate a couple dozen diners, but on weekend evenings these are usually pushed back to the perimeter as the room quickly fills with patrons more intent on liquid fare. It’s fortunate then that Levack has a second space, the back room, where they flip their décor for something more akin to refurbished miniature warehouse space.

Here, in place of the intimate lighting, exposed brick and burnished wood of the front bar, they’ve gone with stripped down cinderblock walls, coloured spotlights, and neon lighting wall art. The room’s yawning industrial windows have all been frosted, there’s a permanent purple hue to the light, and people leave their coats strewn on the cement steps to the basement. In turn, the crowd in the back is younger, drunker, and maybe even trendier than the young urban professionals up front. DJs spin obscure remixes you didn’t even know were out yet, barbacks haul off empties by the ton, and young folk generally carouse and party. It’s pretty hip stuff. And while at times it can seem a little contrived, in the end, this unnaturally happy confluence of what’s happening now, for young and for old, is all a good time. Drink prices aren’t unreasonable, and this place has already hosted some killer dance.