A Historic Social Club for Every Brooklynite
When Brooklyn was consolidated in 1898, its web of mens clubs was largely usurped by Manhattan’s preexisting social networks. At least three historic Brooklyn clubs have beaten the odds and are still open and functioning. Today, the Internet has largely made anachronisms of old-school social institutions used for meeting kindred spirits. Still, the below time-tested clubs will likely…
When Brooklyn was consolidated in 1898, its web of mens clubs was largely usurped by Manhattan’s preexisting social networks. At least three historic Brooklyn clubs have beaten the odds and are still open and functioning.
Today, the Internet has largely made anachronisms of old-school social institutions used for meeting kindred spirits. Still, the below time-tested clubs will likely find you a fellow squash-lover or New York consolidation-hater far faster than Tinder.
The Montauk Club in 1905. Photo via the Museum of the City of New York
The Montauk Club was begun in 1889 in a now landmarked clubhouse inspired by a Venetian Palace on the Grand Canal. A private social club since it its creation 126 years ago, the Montauk Club was founded by such Kings County nobility as Charles Pratt, Edwin C. Litchfield, and Richard Schermerhorn nearly a decade before Brooklyn was incorporated.
The gothic style clubhouse at 85 8th Avenue in Park Slope has played host to multiple former U.S. presidents and prominent political figures over the years. Today, the club charges $550 for annual individual membership, or $350 if you’re under 35. It’ll cost you a pretty penny less if you live and work outside of Brooklyn.
Photo via the Society of Old Brooklynites’ Facebook
If you’ve lived or worked in Brooklyn for a minimum of 25 consecutive years, a one-time payment of $50 will earn you a lifetime membership at the Society of Old Brooklynites. Initially established to oppose Brooklyn’s consolidation, many members of the society are still bitter we aren’t an independent city, according to the Brooklyn Paper.
Their Facebook page lists their location on a at 340 Marine Avenue in Bay Ridge, in what would appear to be a small residential home. For all those in favor of seceding from New York, this club is for you.
Photo via the official Heights Casino website
The Heights Casino has its roots in squash. Founded as a private social club for tennis and community squash players in 1904, the Heights Casino is, according to its official site, “a New York City squash stronghold.”
The historic club can brag of seven squash courts, dining and social facilities, a fitness center, and a pro shop. “No other clubhouse in America is quite like the Casino,” the Casino’s homepage reads, quoting a New York Times article from 1905, “for it will combine in the heart of the city many of the attractive features of a country club.”
The club is still located at its original address in Brooklyn Heights at 75 Montague Street.
Are you a member of a Brooklyn social club that we didn’t cover? Let us know — and not just any bar counts!
Old Brooklyn Defined [BK Paper]
Social Clubs, Past and Present [Brownstoner]
Top image via the Montauk Club
I sort of wish there was a modern-day equivalent of the big old Elks Club in Elmhurst, where you could go for cheap beer, to swim, bowl, play billiards and so on.
I sort of wish there was a modern-day equivalent of the big old Elks Club in Elmhurst, where you could go for cheap beer, to swim, bowl, play billiards and so on.
The Montauk Club still exists as two floors of the building, located at 25, not 85, Eighth Avenue. Schemerhorn, Pratt and Litchfield were early, but not founding members. And membership costs less, not more, if you do not work or reside in Brooklyn.
thanks mabinbklyn, fixed!
The Montauk Club still exists as two floors of the building, located at 25, not 85, Eighth Avenue. Schemerhorn, Pratt and Litchfield were early, but not founding members. And membership costs less, not more, if you do not work or reside in Brooklyn.
thanks mabinbklyn, fixed!