Brooklyn Bar-Baby Debate Goes National
A debate that will be familiar to any resident of Brownstone Brooklyn—whether or not children should be allowed in bars—was elevated to the national spotlight when CNN picked up an old thread on Brooklynian and a more recent story in The Courier this week about how the Windsor Terrace bar Double Windsor had banned babies…
A debate that will be familiar to any resident of Brownstone Brooklyn—whether or not children should be allowed in bars—was elevated to the national spotlight when CNN picked up an old thread on Brooklynian and a more recent story in The Courier this week about how the Windsor Terrace bar Double Windsor had banned babies after 5 p.m. We are Windsor Terrace and Park Slope parents like everyone else, one of the owners told The Courier. But the bottom like is that this is a bar, and most of our customers feel like it’s not an appropriate place for kids after hours. A single father profiled in the CNN story, however, contends that a little common sense and moderation are all that are needed for peace and harmony: “I’m not going to keep her out past 7 p.m. When the bar starts filling up, that’s when we head home…I’m not knocking back double vodkas while my daughter is stumbling around.” We’ll confess to having taken our school-age kids to Radegast for an occasional late-afternoon beer on the weekends, though like the guy in the CNN story, we’ve certainly never stayed past 7 p.m. and it’s always been combined with buying the kids dinner.
Brooklyn Brewhaha: Babies in Bars [CNN]
Photo from Babble.com
I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing a baby in a bar, early evening, if she was sitting there quietly on her parent’s lap. But a screaming baby, or one that runs up to people, would just destroy the relaxed atmosphere that I seek tipping back a beer in a bar with friends.
Therefore, since some but not all babies do this, it seems like you would have to have an overall ban on babies instead of just telling some parents “Sir, you have to remove your baby because it’s screaming and drowning out conversation,” while letting others stay.
A bar is a place where adults go to get away and relax. Maybe some bars would do good business by being “baby friendly” in a place like Park Slope, while it would hurt others’ business. I wouldn’t keep going to a bar that always had crying babies at its tables.
Yeah, people who sit at a bar facing into the myriad liquor bottles and just brood…I don’t get. If you can’t read or watch a game or sit with friends and talk, what’s the point?
Posted by: infinitejester at March 3, 2010 11:58 AM
Alcoholism?
How civilized (this discussion)!
Re: Milf Bar
I can’t think of a better way to bring horny young men in their twenties and thirties together with hot, still ripe mommies in their thirties and forties. Like nature intended.
Ladies, now that’s where you want your bachelorette party.
IronBalls, that MILF bar idea is completely brilliant.
Posted by: mopar at March 3, 2010 10:48 AM
Yes it is.
Yeah, people who sit at a bar facing into the myriad liquor bottles and just brood…I don’t get. If you can’t read or watch a game or sit with friends and talk, what’s the point?
Bars and babies are fine before 6:00 PM in my opinion. I have many times taken my daughter to a bar on a sunny day in the summer and sat at a sidewalk table and had a beer while she enjoys juice. I would not take her to an indoor only bar and sidle up to the bar with her. To me this should be solvable by common sense but I guess everyone has a different sense for what that is.
> You need to have a kid escort you.
Done.
– http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl0/10/109609/10_2008/instant.jpg
quote:
If babies are allowed in Park Slope bars, then I should be allowed to drink in the 3rd Street playground.
OMG that is awesome!!!!!!!!! totally true. wtf, why is the Sprinklers in the park on 5th avenue in park slope, No Adults Admitted without Children!?!?! adults like to frolick in the sprinklers too (no paedo) too!! up in harlem there was no such rule and it was never a problem! no one wants to steal your little brats, believe me!
*rob*