Red Hook: Sunnys
The talk about Red Hook is as thick as a chocolate malt shake--between Fairway, Ikea, and Good Fork, you'd think Red Hook was the next Manhattan. So it was nice to take it back to the old school and have a drink at Sunny's the other night. Though I'd tried to go to Sunny's several times before, this was the first time I'd stopped when it was open. Knee-slapping blue-grass on the stereo and $4 bottled beers had us quite happy despite the lack of food on our stomachs. Not much to look at (besides the bed pan turned ukelele on the wall), but that's exactly what a dive bar at this forgotten waterfront point in Brooklyn should be.
Oh, by the way, does anyone know what happened to Lillie's?
More bars nearby
Liberty Heights Tap Room (home of Sixpoint brewery)
Red Hook Bait and Tackle
Pioneer Bar-B-Q
The Hook
Hope and Anchor
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um, this is one of those posts that is exciting and frightening all at the same time. sunny's is amazing and the bluegrass is real, not just some sorry williamsburg kids playing for themselves. but now does this mean people will flock to sunny's? or maybe just two or three people and then they bring people?
the missing lillie's is not a good sign of things to come in red hook, sort of like ikea.
Word on the street was that Lillie's was closed for rennovation, but now that the phone has been disconnected, it's not looking good.
We just went to the Hope & Anchor yesterday - it was packed! There were a crowd of kids hanging outside with tall bicycles and giant shoes, it was pretty odd. I guess Red Hook is really blowing up now.
GRRRRR! I washed up on the shores of Red Hook in the 1950's. I worked as longshoreman for 40 years then I took my pension. Do you know how many things you can put gravy on THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT THINKING OF??? Popcorn! Asbestos!!!
REd hook is and always will be, a friggin industrial waste land. You think giving props to a few run-down dive bars is going to make me get in my car and go drink out there? They sell PBR cans in Key Foods, you Godless freaks, and I got HDTV!
Go Rangers!
Oh RP, fret not. Red Hook is no secret. Sire, it's developing, but you still have time to enjoy it, hipster-free. The author of this blog is the kind of Brooklynite who ventures places for personal pleasure, not because it's the hip new thing that all the kids are (or will be) raving about. You'll see that she's been chatting about Red Hook for ages; for example, the South American food carts that line the Red Hook futbol field on weekend afternoons. Coincidentally, those same food carts (not to mention all of the abovementioned bars and restaraunts) have been covered consistently by much more widely-read outlets such as NY Mag and Time Out, and you don't exactly see the masses flocking en route from the B61 or the Smith St F stop, do you?
Not trying to be cutting; I surely understand (and agree with) the lovely "hidden corner" vibe of Red Hook. Lillie's has been one of my favorite places for a long time (note to E: word on the street is that she's still open) but railing against development in NYC is like spitting into the wind. Enjoy it and don't worry. Besides, how do you think people get those "When I was a young'un..." stories?
What interests me about this discussion is that it's always imagined that people will change the neighborhood (for the worse). Is it not possible that the neighborhood might have an influence on the people? I've been walking over to Red Hook from Carroll Gardens for almost three years now, and the one constant is that unless you are on Van Brunt or around the projects there is a ghostly eerie silence. I happen to like that silence, but it's not really the sound of a thriving neighborhood (seafaring or non). We walked back Friday night (midnightish) from Van Brunt and took the pedestrian bridge that crosses to Fourth Place. Once we left Van Brunt, we didn't see a soul.
I saw an episode of Bobby Flay's show on the Food Network the other day where he grills up chicken and hot dogs at the Red Hook ballfields. it was odd. who wants to eat hot dogs at the ballfields when you can have one of those amazing piled-high tacos? or papusas? or empanadas?
but I doubt it means the end of red hook.
kids on tall bikes do sound scary, tho. I hate PBR.
Lillie's apparently closed because she never paid sales taxes, among other things
Lillies has been closed for several weeks. I pass by it at least 3 times per week in the evening and night times. Always dark and shuttered, even on Fridays and Saturdays when you would expect some signs of life.
People keep posting in absentia that it's still open, with absurd tales of 50 marching bands and such, and all that is just untrue, just more mere gossip reported from afar.
It is, in fact, closed, and has been for several weeks., ans any actual visit will confirm.
Glad you liked Sunnys A Brooklyn Life - it's been one of my favorite bars in the area since going there for the first time last year. Being from Virginia I can vouch for the bluegrass/oldtime music they have...pretty authentic. ...and where else can you see jazz with a pedal steel player?! Hipsters or no hipsters Red Hook is still one of the most interesting neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
sOnny's
Lillies is closed. She was open one night a couple weeks ago for a special event. From the horses mouth, she plans on openning back up in May some time- I guess with a new partner or something.
That's Sunny's, blognut. Trust me on this one.
redhook! is now on the map...it remindes me of a new small town....where everyone wants to be..south brooklyn rocks!!!!
Lillie's closed for good. I was at the closing night celebration last month - good times and music and drinking until I noticed that the sun was up and I had to stagger back home after stopping by and seeing the crowing roosters on nelson street.