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April 26, 2007

"Your Kind of People" Aren't Welcome Here

This past Friday night, a group of Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill residents headed out for some drinks, but their usual favorite watering holes (the bar called "Bar" at 280 Smith and Zombie Hut at 273 Smith) weren't an option: "Barbar smelled funny, and Z-hut was too crowded," reported the reader. Instead, the group decided to check out Quench, the lounge on the corner of Sackett and Smith. They ordered cocktails, but then learned that the bar is cash-only. One member of the party left the bar to grab some money from a nearby ATM. That's when the trouble began...

"The owner and the bouncer got all huffy thinking that we weren't going to pay. Then, it turned out that the drinks were terrible/un-drinkable, but they wouldn't give a refund or remake the drinks and told us they didn't want our kind of people there anyway! Now, they could have meant 'the kind of people who would say something about a disgusting drink,' but looking around, the other patrons were 100% guys who shave their arms and girls with fake tans, so we left the paid-for drinks on the bar and went home."

Damn, girl! We hate to besmirch a bar that has bestowed us many a cheap happy hour—we've never been given any flak while sipping their refreshing $5 mojitos. (Granted, we have been hit on by men who were old enough to be our dads while we were ordering said cocktails, but that's a small price to pay for such potent $5 drinks!) That said, this anonymous tip doesn't seem to be an isolated occurrence—we found a couple more haters with similar complaints on Citysearch. Has anyone else had problems at Quench?

Comments

For a nice slice of old school, wife-beater wearing, Draakar Noir smeling, Carroll Gardens wannabe gangster life, this is THEE spot to hit!!!

Posted by: MadeInBrooklyn at April 26, 2007 1:24 PM

Guys who shave their arms...lol!

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 1:30 PM

oh god, how i wish there were photos to accompny this story.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 26, 2007 2:01 PM

some descriptive details about the people who are Not Quench's kind of people would be helpful...

Posted by: ss at April 26, 2007 2:13 PM

Bar? Zombie Hut? Quench? Easily three of the worst bars in the neighborhood and a pretty good example of just how mediocre Smith Street is in general.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 2:17 PM

true, but bar is probably the best of the bunch there in terms of no pretenses at all

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 2:19 PM

Question to the hater above? What are the best bars in the neighborhood? Just curious as I must be a pretty mediocre person to enjoy hanging in Bar and Z-Hut

Posted by: jj at April 26, 2007 2:21 PM

My only point is that there are very few decent bars (or restaurants) in the neighborhood. I would say Brooklyn Inn, the Brooklyn Social, and Abilene are the three best.

Bar - always smells.
Zombie Hut - please.
Quench - see above.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 2:38 PM

quench used to be "our bar" for about six months in 2002/2003. they had a ladies' night that my wife loved, and we got to know the bartender, who let us play ipod dj a couple times. the flavor then was mostly locals with a lesbian undercurrent.

strange thing was, the more we got to know the bartender, the weaker the drinks got... strange. so we stopped going. and obviously, the place has gone to hell since.

Posted by: chuck at April 26, 2007 2:50 PM

brooklyn inn is becoming a bistro, maybe the ATM guy will find kinship there.

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 26, 2007 2:52 PM

What kind of douchebags go to a bar without cash?

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:01 PM

quench started out as "that kind of bar" - it was one of the first bars in the post-patios boom in late 90s, but always seemed off, as though the proprieters were from old-school brooklyn and were clumsily trying to catch up to the young people with a "classy" joint. but still an interesting place - occasionally a fire truck would pull up and a crew would pop in for beverages. also a very nice place to visit in the evening of the blackout a few years ago. then again, so was every smith street bar that night.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:02 PM

BTW - just because I said Smith Street and Bar are "mediocre" I didn't say anything about you "jj" or the people at any of them...

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:04 PM

Wait, so it's a gay bar?

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:12 PM

I agree that Brooklyn Inn, Social and Abeline are great bars (being a sports junkie I have to give a props to Angry Wade's as well). But I also dig Bar for it's bare-bones approach and Zombie for the $2 PBR.
I went to the dentist today so I am a little punchy, I guess . . ..

Posted by: JJ at April 26, 2007 3:13 PM

Actually, I think they WAX their arms.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:15 PM

This is hilarious. Bar does smell a little off but now that the summer is here, the doors and windows are usually open and it's noticably fresher.

Zombie Hut has a cool back yard/deck now, not sure if that's new, but I just noticed.

No cool bars in the hood- come on! Brooklyn Socials alright still, and then there's Sample and Abeline, those are my top two.

And

Posted by: Juicy at April 26, 2007 3:17 PM

see you all at the BK Inn in about two hours . . .

Posted by: jj at April 26, 2007 3:28 PM

Boat, between Wyckoff and Warren. Reminds me of the now-gone Roxy bar, which I loved. Good drinks, great jukebox. No arm shaving as far as I can tell. Camp seems to be growing in popularity as well, though I haven't been. As much as I like Zombie Hut's drinks, the crowd is a little, well, something. And frankly I've never liked the look of Quench enough to even be moderately interested in going in.

Posted by: bigmissfrenchie at April 26, 2007 3:37 PM

When they first opened, my husband and I were at the bar having drinks. A photographer was there for a picture for Time Out. We were asked to move so a younger, better looking couple could sit at the bar. (We are in our 40s but not unattractive)

Love Sample and Brooklyn Inn

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:39 PM

gowanus yacht club opens tomorrow.
theres a rumor it is now non smoking?!

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:40 PM

We always thought it was kind of a cougar bar. To be avoided.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:44 PM

To "MadeInBrooklyn"....you actually from Brooklyn? I can see where you get off calling the Quench crowd "wannabe gangsters". However, I'd like to see you say that to them in person. As a resident of Sackett St for 22 years, and someone who grew up with those Italian neighborhood guys, they're not wannabes. They grew up in real gangster families, with gangster friends, and lived in a neighborhood (Carroll Gardens) that at one point was in fact - a gangster neighborhood. Granted, the neighborhood ain't what it used to be, but I wouldn't blame those guys for trying to keep things old school. I'd like to see you venture into parts of Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst and Sheepshead and talk down to the locals at their respective bars. Douche.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:48 PM

You're right all those bars mentioned on Smith St are lousy, mediocre, smelly and bad, please don't stop by. Except Quench, it's really getting a bad rap, give it a shot, really.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 3:49 PM

Me, I like a nice Sam Adams from the TGI Fridays in downtown Brooklyn, where that old restaurant used to be... what was it called Cage and Something or other? That's drinking.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 4:19 PM

i'm with jimmy legs on this one. walking around with no cash and trying to charge everything is for girls or expense accounts only. i don't know where these new kids picked up that sissy habit. but if the card is stolen... i'll let that slide, you've got some balls

Posted by: theDecider at April 26, 2007 4:37 PM

gimme an fing break 3:48. Watching too much sopranos? lemme guess you got a haircut like one of those gotti kids.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 4:50 PM

If you want a decent cocktail head to Brooklyn Social Club, if you want great beer head to the Brazen Head on Atlantic, if you want a fun neighborhood bar head over to Columbia Street and enjoy Moonshine with bands next door at Jalopy.

Brooklyn Bum

Posted by: Brooklyn Bum at April 26, 2007 4:55 PM

walk over to atlantic ave and check out floyd, magnetic field and last exit. i like zombie hut (especially with the outdoor summer area) and camp too. and for beer, its true brazen head is it.

Posted by: anon at April 26, 2007 5:31 PM

Well, as someone who has lived here on and off for over 30 years, I second the fact that the guys down there are not wannabees , they are the real deal. Brooklyn Social is the Disneyland ride of Quench- Social tries to look like the way it used to be, without the risk of a fight or attitude. These guys were going to and are probably still members of REAL social clubs, and are probably as angry as the hispanics that ruled Smith street in the 60's and 70's, who have been boxed out for French and Thai restaurants. They probably made the drinks bad on purpose to get rid of these people, and they are cash only, because they're probably a front for something, if not just cheating their taxes. I have nothing against them, and i am friends with many of the people as i grew up here. I am more than happy to give them their space. never liked Quench to begin with, its more of a old neighborhood place than it used to be, live and let live. They'd probably still be going to "the Pub" or "Courtside" if they still existed. I also agree with the "travelling in groups with no cash" is a horrible way to be, at least have tip money for bartenders. the Zombie Hut is fine after 1am, Boat is great late nite too, I will be sad to see Vegas gone, and the Roxy has been missed for awhile.There are no other worthy bars on Smith as far as i'm concerned, but then again, i'm a little old school myself. oh, and 4:50, you obvipously havent lived in the neighborhood long enough to understand Sackett street's words, any Mob history book will most deinately label Carroll Gardens as an essential part of mob history- oh, and i'm an Irish Jew with long hair, no crew cut here, Fanouk

Posted by: lifer at April 26, 2007 5:33 PM

I lived down the street from there for three years and this surprises me, mostly because it was always empty and looked like they needed the business.

Posted by: Rick at April 26, 2007 6:10 PM

Monteros is the place, all you haters stand back...

Posted by: yeahsure at April 26, 2007 6:18 PM

QUENCH IS A JOKE....most other bars on Smith Street are too. Go to Atlantic.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 6:39 PM

lifer - thanks, you know what's up.
and to Anonymous 4:50....I love the Sopranos. Who doesn't? But the Gotti boy haircut you speak of...no. I have short brown Jew hair. Haven't used gel since the 8th grade.
But you're a phony from god knows where, so get out of my neighborhood, take your know-it-all, condescending ass back to williamsburg or the midwest, portland, san francisco, wherever you're from, and get a life.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 7:41 PM

I'm so glad I live in Clinton Hill.

Posted by: Fort Queen Mean at April 26, 2007 8:36 PM

ONE dude here actually got it right-- all of these corporate ipod asswipe ersatz hipsters who get way vibed out by Quench...

guess what? it used to be a cell phone yapping (in glory days before they were ubiquitous) & "dot.com" fake Manhattan "glamour" joint, easily dismissed as the Fuck Q.

that it's morphed into a local place is one of very few good de-evolutions but I still say bring back The Grid.

Retards who think "Boat" is "really cool" or pay ANY $$$ for the swill & douchebag parade at the loathesome "Gomanus Scrote Club" say what?

The Grid, fucktard, The Grid.

gracias,

M. Poggi

p/s: I will say most "mob history" books DO NOT talk about "Carroll Gardens" because that's a bullshit real estate name. 30 years-- you KNOW that, don't fall into their trap even if everyone else does. "Carroll Gardens" my guinea ass.

Posted by: M. Poggi at April 26, 2007 10:09 PM

4:19 - It was Gage and Tollner's. What a shame, what a shame.

Posted by: anonymous at April 26, 2007 10:15 PM

anon 4:50 here. ive been around for quite a while thanks. what was and what is are two different things. if it gets your carrots off thinking that your hood is still mobbed up don't know what to tell ya.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 26, 2007 11:14 PM

most people at quench do not live in this hood. most drive in from... somewhere: bay ridge? strong island? jerz?

just cause you growed up here dont make you mob, or "gangsta." any walk down sackett toward the bqe and you see only thing "gangsta" about the neighborhood now is the motorola beeps, the hairspray and the hoodrats.

real mob would never put up with such low-rent slag.

Posted by: quencher at April 26, 2007 11:32 PM

what are you doing looking at some guy's armpit?? yuck?

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 12:10 AM

Aren't you all supposed to wait for Jonathan Lethem to tell you where to drink in the "neighborhood?" I thought so. Eileen Dugan would be spinning in her grave. So would Joey Gallo.

Posted by: Mike Clark at April 27, 2007 12:23 AM

Fuck me! Fuck you! Any old-timer knows "The Grid" was actually "Carlitos Way"! Also that it was a shitt fucking bar. Also shitty - the fucking social club at smith and douglass that always woke me up at 5am.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 12:24 AM

if you never jumped in the johhny pump on court and 4th place in front of hanleys with a container and bbq'd at 3 am on the corner with beach chairs youll never understand carroll gardens ... kiss my ass and move back to arkansas ! yuppie fuck

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 3:07 AM

Just a polite correction: us Bridge & Tunnelers still have a Manhattan bias. New Jersey folks and Long Islanders hang out at MisShapes parties at Don Hills or Webster Hall or the Upper East Side. We leave Brooklyn to the ex-Manhattanites who gentrified Alphabet City before deeming old Downtown Brooklyn the place to be, and the old-timers who remember the days when Carnarsie still had Native American tribes living alongside the Pier.

P.S. I know the Ex-Manhattanite neighborhood trailblazers are getting antsy and moving to the likes of Astoria. Please stay on the North Shore & let Far Rockaway be.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 8:02 AM

Bring back the days when Red Rose was the only option for anything on Smith, and where the waiters said "anytime you got a problem, you can come in here--we got baseball bats and we'll take care of it."

Posted by: Brewster at April 27, 2007 10:05 AM

Screw Smith St. on the weekends, it actually makes the LES seem palatable. Head down to Red Hook where at least it is civilized. I like how the bartenders at the Bait and TAckle on Van Brunt maintain what they call an "asshole free bar". Quality booze, no doormen and an ATM. sweet. Plus you can always jump next door to the Pioneer if you need to get your jerk on.

Posted by: tunamelt at April 27, 2007 10:12 AM

I am one of those people from San Francisco who moved to Carroll Gardens and I love the neighborhood. The characters, pretty much all of the bars, Scotto's, the crowd that hangs out in front of the salon next to D'Amico's, whatever. Most of all I try to respect the neighborhood and find my own little niche and not go around like I own south Brooklyn. There is a place for people like me, as long as we keep our mouths shut and settle in gently.

I did buy a Mets hat, though . . .

Posted by: jj at April 27, 2007 10:36 AM

"the other patrons were 100% guys who shave their arms and girls with fake tans"

Maybe "You're kind of people" refers only to obviously judgmental, prejudiced people who come into the bar and look down on the regular customers?

You my friend are a prejudiced prick. I'm so sad you live in my neighborhood.

Posted by: Mark at April 27, 2007 10:48 AM

I meant "your," obviously. Oops. [see directly above]

Posted by: Mark at April 27, 2007 10:49 AM

I grew up in Downtown Brooklyn. I met my wife at BarBar. Quench used to be kind of dykey, then it became greaseball central. I once watched a crowd of guidos from there beat the crap out of a black kid, I guess because he was black, just like back in the "good old days". I don't live in Brooklyn anymore because it sucks, and the recent transplants suck, they've absolutely destroyed one of the gems of this town.

Posted by: lionel mandrake at April 27, 2007 10:57 AM

lionel your comment vexes me . . . you sardonically encapsulate the good old days in quotation marks but then go on to say that the neighborhood has been destroyed by transplants. It seems to me that a fairly safe neighborhood with a few annoying yuppies is better than a place where a kid gets beat up for being black . . .

Posted by: sacket_st_ at April 27, 2007 11:09 AM

@Mark

OP's account is pretty clear, isnt't it? His party was told to leave because "their kind of people" weren't welcome there. You tell me -- who's the prejudiced prick in that story? Sounds to me like OP was being decidedly non-judgmental by going into that establishment in the first place. Everybody knows its a guido bar.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 11:34 AM

Ironic that everyone seems to think it's okay to talk about the "guidos" and the "greaseballs" and mark thinks he's cool enough to describe something as "dykey" (hey mark, unless you're a dyke, don't go there) when the whole point of the original story was that the bartender told this guy "you kind of people aren't welcome here." Frankly I think you're kind of a bunch of assholes who should do your drinking at home.

Posted by: bigmissfrenchie at April 27, 2007 12:51 PM

M.Poggi - "its name comes from Charles Carroll, a Revolutionary War veteran who was also the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. The area now known as Carroll Gardens was originally settled by Irish Americans in the early 19th century. In 1846, Richard Butts created the spacious front yards in the oldest section of the neighborhood that have become the symbol of the area." NOT made up by a realtor...maybe you're thinking of BOCCOCA? I know of 3 bars on Court st in my lifetime that were repeatedly closed for numbers running, I know that my brother worked for one of the first gourmet food stores on Court in the early 80's, that got a death threat for starting to sell flowers across the street from an "older florist"... I know that when I wrote graffitti in the 80's I was told by my italian peers which buidings it would be my best interest not to write on...I know what I experienced...

Posted by: lifer at April 27, 2007 12:52 PM

Drink at home.

Posted by: Minerva at April 27, 2007 1:18 PM

lifer, like I said what was and what now is are two different things.

a bunch of guys that use nair and have pokemon haircuts do not the mafia make.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 1:23 PM

To Sackett St., you are right, and I stand corrected: The crowd at Quench may very well not be wannabee and may be the real-deal (truth be told, i've not stepped in that bar in years), and yes, those folks are a real, true-blue piece of Brooklyn, but you still can't say my visual/scent description is offbase. I've got nothing against them as people, and definitely don't want them to leave the 'hood for more shitty yuppies to move in, BUT I also don't particularly enjoy their company like I once did. And yes, I am actually from BK -- never lived anywhere else nor plan too, and no, i don't need a douche, not today at least.

Posted by: MadeInBrooklyn at April 27, 2007 1:52 PM

Brooklyn social sucks. It is filled with douche bag hipsters (and no I am not saying that all hipsters are douches). This neighborhood has changed so much and it won't be long before all these newbie young heads decide to move some place else and take over.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 1:59 PM

1:23, i see your point, I personally dont go to Quench, i know a couple heavy hitters that do, and i am sure alot of those guys are just "ambience"..the other people on here denying theres a mob presence wether its in Quench or not, just dont know. .as far as drinking in the neighborhood, nothing is really worth it before midnite...thats all i got to say on this...

Posted by: lifer at April 27, 2007 2:21 PM

Anyone who needs to debate the cred of a neighborhood on some sissy blog is an asshole. BK has been ruined by idiots who think they know better than the next transplant fuck. And anyone who sits at a bar without any cash in his pocket, especially when out with the ladies deserves a good beating. By the way, to the OP: First the owners thought you weren't going to pay, THEN the drinks sucked?? Get the fck out of here!

Posted by: Travolta at April 27, 2007 7:15 PM

So, the locals are good enough to rent you apartments in their family homes, to build and run businesses like Caputo's or Brooklyn Bread which are so "quaint" and give the neighborhood all that "character" your real estate broker sold you on, and that's not good enough? You want them to act like they're fucking happy to see your rent-driving-up, small business-closing, whitebread yuppie ass walk into one of the few places left not full of shaggy-haired emo fucks from Omaha? Please. Yuppie entitlement at its finest!

Posted by: Anonymous at April 27, 2007 8:54 PM

Anybody know why Vegas is closing - seemed to have a decent crowd most of the time.

Posted by: anon at April 27, 2007 11:36 PM

For all that dislike quench. Learn before u speak the guys who hang out there are not wannabees. They are actually nothing but gentleman, they just refuse to let some outsider take advantage in their neighborhood. Get to know them and u will realize that they don't make men like that anymore. So stop hangin with the DIRTY liberal guy who picked his clothes out of the bottom of the hamper and makes his girl pay for the drinks. Just remember your not from here your their guests. Don't overstay your welcome!

Posted by: Anonymous at April 28, 2007 7:59 AM

11:36 -Vegas's lease is up, it appears Lucky Jeans offered them more money, thats what i heard is going in its place..

Posted by: lifer at April 28, 2007 9:28 AM

I don't dislike Quench but I do think that all of the transplant bashing is horseshit. Not every person who moves into the neighborhood is some Yuppie/Emo fuck who wants to make the neighborhood their own. Just like not every "real" Carroll Gardens resident is a mobbed up greaseball ready to beat down gays and blacks at the drop of a dime. Most of us are just people who moved to NYC for a job, or a girl, and thought that this is a great place to live.

Posted by: sackett_st at April 28, 2007 12:28 PM

7:59 Vegas' lease is up? What did they sign a 5 year lease?

Posted by: anon at April 28, 2007 5:37 PM

actually i was the poster underneath, i am not sure that the lease is up, i just know they are out at the end of the month and lucky jeans is moving in.I dont think the've been there 5 years...I dont know much more than that

Posted by: lifer at April 28, 2007 6:07 PM

Sitting in bklyn social with a couple of members just got wind of bk record and checked it out don't appreciate these yuppie liberals bashing the neighborhood u guys make me sick u ruined my neighborhood. U made all the people from here move way and know I don't even know my neighbors they put their heads down and don't say hello it makes me sick it makes me wanna piss on there doorknobs

Posted by: uncle junior at April 29, 2007 1:01 AM

I've lived in the hood for years & just wandered in to Quench a few weeks ago. What a MISTAKE! This place is seriously a hell hole.After a few beers my friend & I found people going thru our bags. I have never left a 'hood bar with such a bad taste in my mouth. This place deserves all the dissin' it's gettin'.

Posted by: a at April 29, 2007 11:34 AM

You "found people going through your bags?" What type of crack were you on?

Posted by: Po at April 29, 2007 10:22 PM

maybe you should all just stay home and drink in your fucking kitchens

Posted by: whatever at April 30, 2007 12:49 PM

Hey uncle junior, if its your neighborhood, why don't YOU say hello? Are you really shocked that your new "yuppie liberal" neighbors are walking past you with their heads down when you are so clearly hostile against them?

Nobody is bashing the neighborhood here. We are all here because we LOVE the nieghborhood. What we don't love is people like you treating us like assholes just because we haven't lived here for 50 fucking years.

Neighborhoods change. People move away and others move in. It's a fact of modern urban life.. and you can either be a dick about it and "piss on there doorknobs" or try to get along..

Posted by: Anonymous at April 30, 2007 2:03 PM

The neighborhood and its residence are fine....QUENCH SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Anonymous at April 30, 2007 2:49 PM

maybe if u's "locals" were from somewhere else, you would be smarter and know how to spell (and could afford to stay). my advice is to get hooked on phonics and leave the fun drugs to us rich yuppies who now OWN (what used to be) your neighborhood. see ya's. can't wait for The Gap on Smith. Chinos, baby.

Posted by: grammar_cop at April 30, 2007 4:39 PM

Well, you're hooked on drugs you're buying from the locals, so who's the smart one now "bad lieutenant"?

Posted by: anon at April 30, 2007 4:51 PM

You people are all seriously retarded. Each one of you needs to get a life. None of you are better than the rest, you're all exactly the same -- childish, prejudice and ignorant.

What's the point in arguing over this and telling each other off for such stupid reasons? You don't know each other and you wouldn't be fighting with each other in person (if you were, there'd be riots on the streets of Carroll Gardens between the old schoolers and the new inhabitants), so get a life and stop fighting on the internet. You're not doing anyone any good at all.

Posted by: Anonymous at April 30, 2007 5:10 PM

don't tell me I won't fight in person. I'll take on the old school AND the new school.

Posted by: doing everyone all kinds of good at April 30, 2007 5:26 PM

Hey Gandhi (5:10).. why dont you keep walkin?.. maybe we're having fun, maybe we're blowing off steam on issues we are all thinking about. no one has mentioned threats (except for pissing on doorknobs) until you got up here, and now you're calling everyone "retarded, childish,and ignorant"?.You're taking on both sides. It reminds me of a story, someone i know was walking by Angry Wade's on the other side of the street one night, they saw a fight between 2 groups of people outside the bar (as is normal at that dump), they stoped to stare, and when the fighters saw them staring, they callled out "what are you lookin at"? and they said "uh, a fight"?, so both sides stopped fighting and went across the street and collectively stomped both of them, if you dont want to be involved, mind your own busiiness...you're just gonna direct anger towards yourself....this is the longest set of postings since stroller mafia wars...maybe some of us are having fun...

Posted by: anon at April 30, 2007 6:06 PM

being a hood resident for 28 yrs the only people i find responsible for allowing these dispicable yups who now occupy space is no other than the old italians who took the money and ran..they took the $1000 a month rent in the early 90s and laughed all the way to the bank while you filth yups had no furniture and bought cold cuts by the slice...no class. - may i have 3 slices of ham 2 slices of cheese and a kaiser roll... yeah right after you eat my ass yup scum...after all is said and done your still renting now for 2k a month and the old paisans are enjoying their 10 acre estate in south jersey that was purchased by you mr. yup with your rent money from your fucking trust fund ...suckers! oh yes and for all those fellow italians who did stay the neighborhood may not be the same but the neighborhood will always be part of you ...the blockparties,the johnny pump,bbqs,50 people trooping to the beach and most of all being encouraged to stay on the corner. and although they may try to take this neighborhood theyll never know what it truly means to live under the reputation that weve built for this neighborhood. the same reason they moved to carroll gardens..20 years ago it was the only section of brooklyn where you can walk around at 2 am. an when us italians are gone youll see how they beg for us back when we are no longer here and they fall prey to the surrounding neighborhood gentlemen. (model citizens) dont worry yups there are a few nice bsmt apts for rent in south jersey im sure by now theyre all ready awaiting your arrival and started packing for florida. as for me im outta this neighborhood you yups could keep it ! the boys and i are moving to a disclosed location ... no yups allowed...another thing ... i read something in a recent blog about the way we look at people ... no one ever looked at the yups crooked... you all came here with your arrogance and looked on us condescending because of our blue collar lifestlye as if we were local yocals from some backwards farm. although were rough around the edges make no mistake that our level of education is same as yours..you just never knew what it was like to have to fight everyday for you starter jacket,hat,jansport and sneakers. while you were playing ice hockey on a pond in green bay wisc i was using my hockey stick to fight off some douchebag trying to rob me... but im sure you knew that about caroll gardens..

Posted by: if only spa was around at May 1, 2007 3:52 AM

Is a yuppie somebody who grew up in a blue collar household in the midwest but who worked his/her ass off to get a college education (waiting tables to pay for his/her own tuition), moved to NYC, felt at home in a great hood like Carroll Gardens (even though his/her one bedroom does indeed cost 2k/month), likes to drink at Brooklyn Social and gets his/her hair cut at Chic Elegance but is unfortunate enough as to have a good job and not dress like an extra from an Eminem video? well call me a yuppie then . . .

Posted by: Anonymous at May 1, 2007 12:24 PM

tisk, tisk, boys... lets get back to the original posting, ie 'Quench'. The real interesting thing about the neighborhood now is the drug dealing going on outside of the bodega at Union/Smith (drugs or girls, I can't figure out which), followed by the drug dealing going on in front of Quench, followed by the drug dealing in front of Zombie Hut (at 3 in the am). Bar Bar does smell (sorry Leno) and Monteros is a fabulous place. Ever notice how often the cops walk Smith Street now... someone's obviously not paying their street tax to the correct people. The next on the 'to be derided here' list is Cafe Dore- they seem to be doing the Jamaican Street Crew thing on Sunday nights... boy has Smith Street changed. Angry Wades has got a real angry vide to it, so does PJ's on Court. Brklyn Social is just plain pretentious, sort a like the Go-anus kiddy yacht club, only with a roof over it.
All the cousins and 'next generation' destined for Q are sitting in the park at 11 pm on a Tuesday night, fyi.

Posted by: smith street at May 3, 2007 4:37 PM

Neighborhoods change, usually for the worst if you ask the people who grew up in them. No point in lamenting that. But what's been lost in south brooklyn are the two things that made it a great place in the 70's & 80's: authenticity and community. Not that I don't miss the heros from Dom's Grocery, or the Rex Cinema, nickel bags from Junior, when the only option on Atlantic was the International, when going out for dinner meant choosing Sam's, Helen's, or manhattan. What made this neighborhood was the fact that people were neighbors, looked after each other's kids on the block, were protective of each other's well being. You didn't have to go to one of two dozen bars to meet the people who lived next to you. There was continuity, familiarity and protectiveness. It was more insular and less tolerant than it is today, but the bond to it was created by something more than the latest French restaurant or high-priced baby boutique. As time goes on, when I walk up my block I see fewer and fewer people that I recognize by name, and can say hello to, and share anything more meaningful with than a scorpion bowl. The population is mostly transient now, younger, more affluent, and with that have come good things like sushi and nice rents for owners. I still wouldn't live anywhere else in the state(s) (man that sunset over the waterfront viewed down degraw), but places like brooklyn social typify the fact that the area's character has been lost to waves of residents who don't understand it or who more likely are just oblivious to it. As thriving as the neighborhood might be, the community died years ago.

Posted by: EnjoyYourStay at May 5, 2007 7:42 AM

I remember when Carroll Gardens was all magma, then came the dinosaurs. That's when things really went to shit.

Posted by: A-non-anus at May 8, 2007 2:05 AM

My girlfriend lives in CG - we go to Quench sometimes - we've met the owner - she's behind the bar usually - very nice woman who let my gf change her glass of wine when she didn't like the taste no problem

Posted by: Geoff at May 9, 2007 1:33 PM

I love you guys...you are fightin' over a bar in Brooklyn...the world is such a big place and you should spend more time trying to better your life. The boy's from the hood keep this place safe believe it or not. You can walk down smith street at 4 am and if you were in any trouble these so called "wanna bees" could save your life. Your mother, your father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather..ect. You get the point..Thanks for raising my property value. My brownstone's are worth million's and my kid's are straight. If you knew what I knew was gonna happen, you might have made the right investment's also. I thank God I had the balls to leave my country and come to the land of freedom. If you can make if here you can make it anywhere...such a true statement..small town boys and girls- Welcome...Good Luck & enjoy the neighborhood I call HOME!!!!..need apt's...$2500....just think I paid 20,000 for the place you offered me 4 million..thank you again...Go to Quench a buy a round for the neighborhood boy's. Show them some respect instead of putting up your nose because they definetly have a lot of class.

Posted by: Vinny Goumba at May 11, 2007 11:21 PM

Came upon this site by accident but have to post. Grew up in carroll gardens in the 80's, now living out of state. Visited the neighborhood last year after being gone for 15 years and hardly recognized it. I remember when the "liberals" started coming in during the mid 80's but don't recall any tension or hostility between the new people and the natives. Back then there was only one bar and it was on the corner of First Place and Court Street and definitely a locals only place. I have to say that I was sad and disappointed to see how much the neighborhood has changed, there is just no real character any more despite all of the trendy restaurants and bars. And the gangsters or wiseguys or whatever you want to call them were the real thing -- probably what made the neighborhood safe. There is no way that anyone not native to the neighborhood could ever understand what has been lost and why the old timers might be territorial. But please people have some respect for what some consider to be sacred.
What I wouldn't give right now for a slice of nino's or sal's pizza and a lemon ice from court pastry ...

Posted by: bkgirl at May 19, 2007 12:00 AM

I worked at Quench and was there the night of the blackout. It's getting a bad rap. But I'm nostalgic for the old days, when both Luis Prima and Radiohead could get equal play on the jukebox. I felt protected by the regulars and if I was ever in trouble, I'd turn to them. I miss the Quench Wench.

Posted by: Mari and Joel at May 19, 2007 12:49 AM

how many balls do you want

Posted by: leo at July 3, 2007 6:58 AM

« Slick as a Brick: Oro Moving Along House of the Day: 920 8th Avenue »

April 26, 2007

"Your Kind of People" Aren't Welcome Here

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