Celebrating Community
There’s no such thing as a bad seat at the Brooklyn Ice House. The two picnic tables in front of the bar provide views of passersby. In the bar’s spacious back patio, wooden tables and benches are sprinkled among rusty chairs—nothing precious enough to cause concern if you have a little spill, nor dirty enough to fear sitting on. Inside, […]
Take a little walk to edge of Park Slope down on 5th Ave between St. Marks and Warren to Lizzie King’s Parlor, a name with an origin story that seems ripe for a Nick Cave murder ballad. It comes from Elizabeth Lloyd King who lived around the corner in the late 1800s and is famous for having shot her estranged […]
John Pinamonti and his band have been performing as a regular combo at Sunny’s Bar on Conover Street, Red Hook, since the year 2000. The history of Sunny’s Bar is wonderfully told in Tim Sultan’s book Sunny’s Nights: Lost and Found at a Bar on the Edge of the World (2016). I have no intention of competing with that; indeed […]
My oldest friend Lan comes into New York City about once a year nowadays. He’s lived in Orlando, Florida, for the past 20 years. One night, three years ago, he insists that we go out. “It’s late. I’m tired,” I say, feeling lame. But it’s a cool summer night in Brooklyn. He didn’t come all the way from swamp Orlando […]
Hank’s Saloon, a century old dive bar, is gone. It tried to reinvent itself through relocation, but it ended in an ill-fated merger with a food court that could not sustain its own share of the bills. Hank’s was a part of a now-vanishing beautiful culture in New York where people from all economic backgrounds might meet, drink, be teased, […]
Question: “Where should we meet for drinks?” Answer: Gowanus Beat the heat and bask in the toxic fumes of Brooklyn’s best-kept secret. Gowanus exists right between the middle of nowhere and the middle of everything. The constant growl of the F/G train, low-to-the-ground buildings, and a general air of unfinished business has given the sprawling central Brooklyn neighborhood a bad […]
Halyard’s is a low-key bar in the heart of Gowanus. Known for its “local-bar” attitude, good but not pretentious cocktails, and light and simple food, it’s got a great neighborhood comfortability that is charming and relaxed. Quietly, however, it’s been doubling as a great place for music, and has been turning into a musicians’ hang. For over two years, there […]
On March 17, the Brooklyn branch of the Gaelic League held its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade outside Rocky Sullivan’s, with members making a short loop from the bar on Beard Street to the shoreline at Erie Basin Park with flags and signs in hand. The political concerns of the group, however, extend far beyond Red Hook. Douglas Hyde, who […]
A members-only nightclub with 26 private rooms and 26 bathrooms is coming to Red Hook, replete with liquor and a private waitstaff. The principals of KS Dreamland pleaded their case before the Permits & Licenses Committee of Community Board 6, which recommended approval of the club’s liquor license with the only proviso being that they close a bit earlier than […]
Donald O’Finn: Artist, Rebel, and Proprietor of Freddy’s Bar The original Freddy’s Bar is one of the great, lost places in Brooklyn. Once a rumored to be a speakeasy during prohibition, it later became a key, cultural hub and ground zero for the resistance to the assault on Brooklyn by real estate developers. The dark front room featured an outstanding wooden bar, red […]