On a recent sunny afternoon, the Hamilton Restaurant and Bar in Coolidge Corner bustled with activity. Families sipped on creative cocktails, the after-work crowd mingled at the bar, and trivia teams prepped for a night of competition. Yet, beneath the lively surface, the restaurant faces a storm of legal troubles that mirror a broader crisis playing out in communities across the country: the precariousness of tenancy and the looming threat of eviction.
Hamilton’s troubles began in earnest on December 22, 2025, when a constable delivered a notice to co-owner Greg Johnston’s lawyer, terminating the restaurant’s tenancy-at-will agreement. Brookline Dining Group, the LLC operating Hamilton, was given until January 31, 2026, to vacate the premises. According to court documents cited by Brookline.News, the landlord made it clear: "If Brookline Dining Group fails to vacate … the landlord will enforce all of its rights at law and in equity to obtain possession of the premises, as well as to recover any monies owed to it."
Despite the notice, Hamilton has continued to operate as usual, with the landlord now suing to evict the restaurant. The next hearing is scheduled for June 18, 2026. Johnston, for his part, insists the situation is a misunderstanding. He says he signed a 27-year lease that required him to submit a renewal notice after seven years and every five years thereafter. While he admits he missed the renewal in 2025, Johnston claims a separate repayment agreement for a COVID-era rent discount, which extends into year eight, signals his intent to stay. "I put well over a million dollars into this restaurant," Johnston told Brookline.News. "We didn’t do anything wrong here. And I’ve got so much invested, I’ve got 20 years of my life savings in here, so I can’t walk."
The legal wrangling is just the latest chapter in an escalating feud between Hamilton and its landlords, Eddie C. Wong and Chung Wong, Trustees for the Ngan & Pik Wong Realty Trust. Back in March 2025, the landlords filed a complaint alleging unpaid rent, aiming to evict the restaurant. That dispute was settled in September, but it wasn’t long before the eviction process began anew. The Wongs and their legal team have not responded to requests for comment from Brookline.News.
Hamilton’s legal headaches don’t end with the lease. Since 2022, fifteen complaints have been filed with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office against the restaurant for non-payment of wages and tipping violations. The AG’s office has assessed $3,934 in restitution and penalties against Brookline Dining Group as a result. Johnston argues the situation is a misunderstanding, explaining that employees often receive payroll checks for zero dollars because taxes on their tips consume their hourly wage. "The taxes from all their tips come out of their hourly rate," says Johnston.
But not all employees see it that way. One former worker, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation, described working at Hamilton for a week as a teenager and waiting four months to be paid. The employee said they were asked to serve tables without training—even though they weren’t hired as a server—and often worked without a manager present. "I remember I was serving a family and there were like five different martini orders, dry, dirty, I had no idea what any of that meant," the employee recalled. "I was never trained on how to put in alcohol, which I shouldn’t have been serving in the first place because I was 16 at the time." After resigning and repeatedly requesting payment, the employee filed a complaint with the attorney general. Months later, the check finally arrived.
Hamilton opened its doors in 2018, marking Johnston’s first venture into hospitality after two decades in construction. Named for Alexander Hamilton, the restaurant offers bar food classics with nods to Johnston’s Irish heritage, such as Guinness beef stew and cod fish-and-chips. Each year, the restaurant hosts young Irish workers through the J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa program, further tying its identity to both local and international communities.
While Hamilton’s battle is playing out in a Massachusetts courtroom, a much larger eviction crisis is unfolding in Oklahoma County, where data reveals a staggering scale of displacement. According to KOSU and KFOR, more than 40% of eviction filings in Oklahoma County come from just 100 properties. In the past year alone, landlords in the county filed over 17,000 evictions—a figure nearly equal to all filings in Connecticut over the same period.
The county’s eviction filing rate stands at 12%, more than twice that of major cities like New York, Philadelphia, or Austin. The reasons behind these numbers are stark. Oklahoma has some of the fastest eviction timelines in the nation: by law, eviction hearings must be scheduled within ten days of a filing, including weekends and holidays, and tenants receive only three days’ notice before court. "There can be individuals that come home from work on a Friday and find out that they have court on Monday. If the case results in a judgment, which half of them do, the sheriff can show up as early as that same day to serve," said Amy Coldren, Director of Advocacy and Communications at Mental Health Association Oklahoma, to KFOR.
Low filing fees make the process even easier for landlords. For just $58, they can file claims up to $5,000. Lorae Stojanovic, a research specialist at the Eviction Lab, told KFOR, "Oklahoma has one of the very fastest eviction processes in the nation. It also has the cheapest filing fees, so it makes it very easy for landlords to incorporate that into their eviction or their business practices." The speed and affordability of the process mean that landlords often file for eviction after just one missed payment, and repeat filings are common. In fact, a quarter of households threatened with eviction have faced multiple filings in the last two years, subjecting families to ongoing stress and instability.
The data also shows that many eviction filings are for small amounts. In the past year, 50% of filings were for less than the median monthly rent, and 37% were for less than $1,000. Coldren explained, "For a family that’s facing an uncertain financial setback—an unexpected medical need, job loss, you know, any type of unexpected financial setback—they can then be pushed into what is a crisis very, very quickly." Even if tenants manage to pay the overdue rent and avoid eviction, they often end up saddled with attorney fees, filing fees, and other legal costs. The risk of homelessness looms large: "I’ve yet to find an individual who’s experiencing homelessness who has not also experienced an eviction. An eviction here definitely is a pathway to homelessness," Coldren said.
The new data, published in a partnership between Mental Health Association Oklahoma and the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, is now available on a regularly updated online platform. This transparency, advocates hope, will help Oklahomans and policymakers better understand the scale and drivers of eviction. "We can wave our red flag and, you know, say that there’s a need for reform, there’s a need for change," Coldren told KOSU. "But I think when you can compare it to other similar cities or other states, it really, it’s an eye-opening experience."
From the legal battles of a neighborhood restaurant in Massachusetts to the thousands of families facing eviction in Oklahoma, these stories highlight how fragile the concept of "home" can be. Whether it’s a beloved local business or a family struggling to make rent, the stakes couldn’t be higher—or more personal.