Best Nightlife Open Thread

By on November 5, 2007 12:24 pm in Brooklyn Heights

 

Sure, Brooklyn Heights hasn't been known as a bastion of nightlife since the Bossert and St. George Hotels closed their nightclubs decades ago. But there's still some fun out there.  Where do you go in the neighborhood to have fun? Where's that place where "everyone knows your name"?  Comment below! 

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  • Annon

    Best – ale house (pete great bartender)
    worst – jack the horse (awful service)

    Just tried magnetic field – thanks! My wife and I loved it!

  • http://adsformyself.blogspot.com Tim N.

    Wasn’t the one in the St. George a topless joint? Any of our BH history buffs or long-term residents want to weigh in?

  • nabeguy

    Don’t really care if everybody at the HSAH know my name as long as Pete does.

  • Teddy

    I once spoke with a Heights resident (now deceased) who told me about the nightclubs, bars & brothels which dominated the Heights years ago. He said even people from Manhattan took the subway to BH when they wanted some fun. Now we sleep, order take-out, raise children (some only on the weekends) and drink coffee at Tazza.

  • lifer

    Tim, It was called Club Wildfire, and was certainly topless…I will weigh in with Magnetic Field my favorite, with Floyd (after 2am) a second, although I spend alot of time at the Exit, but thats the Cobble Hill side of Atlantic. Henry street is good too, I usually go there to eat and drink, rather than just drink.And I have been going to Montero’s since I was a teenager, but not regularly..not much strikes me above Atlantic ave barwise…

  • Teddy

    BTW, I like The Brazen Head. I know it’s not in the Heights, but like most of the good nightlife options these days (good example-Smith St.) it’s outside the neighborhood.

  • Annon

    Damon is so rude! How can you say that?

  • nabeguy

    And before it was Club Wildfre, it was the Godfather Bar, so named after the Luca Brasi strangling/stabbing scene in GF1 that was filmed there. Sort of our own local version of the Bada Bing.

  • simon

    Anonn – double your medication, Damon is cool.

  • MadeInBrooklyn

    Club Wildfire was a trip… They closed up due to a shooting in there by an off-duty cop. Speaking of our version of Bada Bing, there was the second incarnation of the Clark Street Station bar (originally it was a joint with decent bar food but when it re-opened i). Anyone remember the big ass dog always up front at the end of the bar?

  • MadeInBrooklyn

    Sorry for the clipped comment… I meant to write that at one point it was a regular, decent bar and then it reopened and courted a certain elemant from Caroll Gardens. I think the owner’s name was Jimmy if i am not mistaken.

  • LTindaBH

    Until the Atalntic Ave bars like Mag Field (formerly the gay bar Friends), No Exit, and Floyed opened, there was Montero’s, Pete’s Ale house, and further up, the Montague St Saloon (where Housing Works is now), and really little else. As a teen, I had to go to Manhattan to go clubbing. Aside from parties in friend’s houses, the BH was pretty dead. There was a gay bar on Pineapple Walk in the 70s, I believe…where Peas n’ Pickles is now. BTW, I like Damon at JTH a lot. He is very precise. The only time I had crap service there was when I was with a big group and the waiter actually mocked me when I tried to get his attention.

  • Annon

    we’ve had allot of issues with service at jth, its even worse if we bring our kids. We are not alone in this complaint. Its too bad because the food is great.

  • Annon

    Well you have pull with your psuedo celebrity status. I guess normal customers like my wife and I get the short end of the stick at the bar and restaurant at jth.

  • Micky

    Damon at JTH is among the best bartenders in the City. Can’t tell you a thing about what kind of guy he is, but his drinks are flawless.

    Henry Street Ale House has outstanding beers and the food is strong too.

    I heard about some sort of new nightclub type place opening up on Atlantic. Does anyone know about it? It had some sort of religious-inspired name. Sanctuary maybe?

  • lifer

    Its called Deity (deitynyc.com) next to Downtown Atlantic.

  • http://brooklynheightsblog.com Qfwfq

    “Annon”, far from being a celebrity of any kind, this normal customer has always been treated decently by the staff at jack the horse, and they tend to bend over backwards for children, from what I can tell (at least during brunch). Damon is a seriously good bartender. And I highly recommend the manly “Man of Leisure” cocktail.

    Henry Street Alehouse is a great choice for a laid-back evening beer and a good burger.

    Magnetic Field is the most fun bar not named Freddy’s.

    Floyd would be great if it wasn’t for all the people. It’s best on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

    Eamon’s kinda creeps me out.

  • hick-up

    There used to be an early evening cluster of barflies who liked to gather at the Thai Grill and talk back to the evening news. As an occasional visitor, felt like a bit of an interloper, but they usually had some amusing cracks.

    Like HSAH but please don’t-wop once in while, Pete! Jeez.

    Cubanito’s had a comfy little bar, too, while it lasted. Back when Mojito’s were a fresh idea.

  • JL

    Any good Jazz clubs/jazz bands that perform nearby (willing to leave BH, but would prefer to stay in Brooklyn rather then venturing to Manhattan)?

  • nabeguy

    MadeinBrooklyn, if you remember the Clark St Station, you’ll probably also remember By George! which was where the current Gristede’s is. Big Jim was the “owner” of both places, if I’m not mistaken.

  • spm

    I heard today that Eamon’s is closing – the whole building is to be sold, pulled down and re-developed – more luxury condos/rentals? I know that side of Clinton Street is non-landmarked so they may have some leeway. Anyone else know anything about this?

  • MadeInBrooklyn

    By George, of course! A strange set-up as it was sunken down below street level. Going back a few year’s further, you had Danny’s (a gay bar) which was where Montague Street Bagels is.

  • nabeguy

    Most of the people involved with By George were sunken below street level as well.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    I guess we’ve come a long way from when, as Dylan sang, Montague Street had “music in the cafes at night/ and revolution in the air.”

    When I moved to the Heights in 1983, Capulet’s on Montague quickly became my local. The staff and regulars were congenial, and there was live bluegrass on weekend nights. Capulet’s closed a year or two after my arrival (the space is now occupied by Cafe Buon Gusto), and the newly opened Clark Street Station (where Sea Asian restaurant is now) hired Gerry Bose from there to tend bar, so the crowd migrated north. CSS had a great bar scene (though, alas, no live music) and served decent cajun-style food.

    After a couple of years, CSS changed hands and the old crowd migrated to a place called Peter(?) Hillary’s, which was where Eamonn’s is now. The vibe there was never as good as it had been at Capulet’s or CSS (Gerry was no longer around, and the old crowd was starting to disperse) so I gravitated back to my old haunts in the Village, where I lived before moving here.

    Marriage and fatherhood have since cut into my bar time, but I do get out on the occasional Wednesday to Magnetic Field for the Dick Swizzle game show. MF is a delightful place where even a geezer like me can have a great time, and Charlene is a terrific bartender. When my wife and daughter were out of town for a while this summer, I went to JTH a couple of nights and drank and ate at the bar. I found Damon very congenial. My wife and I have also gone there to dine a few times, and always found the service, as well as the food, to be excellent. The Saturday before last we went with friends to Henry Street Ale House and sat at a table to drink beer, chat, and check on game three of the Series (my wife and the distaff half of the couple we were with are both from Massachusetts, so were cheering for the Red Sox). I’d never been there, and found the beer and ale selection first rate, and the table service quite good. I’ll have to go back some time and sit at the bar when Pete is on duty, especially when he’s playing doo-wop, which I love.

  • Annon

    perhaps you need to have your own blog to get good service at jth.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Well, I wasn’t wearing a button that said “I blog” or anything to that effect, and I never mentioned it. Still, maybe you should give it a try. Setting up a blog is amazingly easy, and free. I look forward to your joining the crowd.

  • LTindaBH

    I am going to go to JTH and show Damon some love tonight!

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Damon, you lucky dog.

  • http://http:www.myspace.com/billyreno Billy Reno

    Live Band Karaoke at Magnetic Field tonight!! Best two nights of the month! And I sure do miss Buck’s Lodge.

  • sue

    don’t know what was meant by “element” from Cobble Hill re: Clark Street Station, but I do know it served underage drinkers and therefore was usually teeming and spilling out into the streets on a Saturday night. Good riddance!! Slades was really nice (where Ricky’s is now) as a place to get a drink, as was Centro’s.

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