CG'ers Don't Want No Stinkin' Bars
Rumors are swirling that Al’s Grocery, a longtime fixture a the corner of 3rd Street and Hoyt, is about to be replaced by a jazz bar. “Ours is a quiet residential block with a lot of young families recently moved in and far removed from the commercial bustle of Smith Street,” writes one concerned neighbor….
Rumors are swirling that Al’s Grocery, a longtime fixture a the corner of 3rd Street and Hoyt, is about to be replaced by a jazz bar. “Ours is a quiet residential block with a lot of young families recently moved in and far removed from the commercial bustle of Smith Street,” writes one concerned neighbor. “We’re not looking forward drunks sitting on our stoops or pissing in our already-truncated front yards.” Word is that the beer and wine license is a non-issue because it transfers with the lease. Anyone have more deets? GMAP
My question would be “what kind of jazz are the owners going to play?” because if its smooth jazz that would be less disruptive (as the beat is more mellow than much more “hard-core” kinds such as be-bop or rag-time). A good example is the sort they play on CD 101.9 the vaction station, for example spiro gyra. You can really kick back and chill listening to them and feel like youre in an oasis to unwind and escape the urban hub-bub. Ambient jazz guitar is also super soothing, in fact it is my favorite way to decompress even more so then yoga or acupressure. To sum up I think it a good solution is if they opened up the jazz bar (they could give it a name pertaining to jazz such as Listen Up) but made sure they only played smooth jazz in it, there by allowing fans of music to enjoy a night out yet the neighbors would still be able to sleep…maybe even better than before because of the relaxation factor inherent in the music. “Food for thought”?
I live on 3rd towards Hoyt — while, yes, it’s a two-way street, it’s hardly an industrial thoroughfare — very quiet at night. I’m definitely not particularly excited for somewhere a few *houses* down to turn into a bar.
to all the pro-bar folks,
if your backyard abutted the back of one of these bars which are now typically open in the back for lounging/smoking, and you heard these people all night every night even if the windows were closed, you’d be singing a different tune. Hopefully the new noise code will force these bars to be more respectful of their neighbors.
I notice a distinct pattern with these comments. Those who are pro-bar resort to sarcasm and insults such as “get a life” in response to the anti-bar comments, as if the people who don’t think a bar should exist on a residential block are losers.
Maybe these same individuals will be just as reasonable and polite to the residents on 3rd St. who ask them to keep it down because their kids are sleeping.
PS To 7:52, You are right, 3rd St. is not a quiet residential thoroughfare, but the BLOCK in question is!
“If I lived on the block, I’d be far more concerned about toxins and pollutants than a neighborhood bar” Yeah, and if you lived on the block you’d know how quiet and residential it TRULY is. For the record, those of us who DO live on the block are already concerned about toxins and pollutants. The last thing we need are toxically polluted drunks stumbling up and down our street.
Having a bar on the corner will only RAISE the value of real estate on the block. It will make the street feel like a part of the neighborhood rather than on the fringe. Most buyers look for amenities when house hunting.
More importantly, 3rd street is NOT a “quite residential street,” it a busy two way street on the edge of a huge manufacturing/industrial zone and happens to be the only means of getting from Park Slope to Carroll Gardens in a car.
If I lived on the block, I’d be far more concerned about toxins and pollutants than a neighborhood bar.
I’ve said this a million times before and I feel the need to say it again….some of these “suburbs” you speak of are much cooler than what Brooklyn has become. Why? Look at the attitudes of some of the posters here. THAT, my friends, is the new Brooklyn.
Did any of the persons posting on this web site go to college? Or high school? Or did they stop teaching grammar, punctuation, and spelling?
I don’t think you can divide the people on this thread into pro-bar and anti-bar. I am a renter and I am both, depending on the specific circumstances. I am also an ex-East Villager, where the whole bar situation exploded and anyone who complained was labeled an enemy of progress and etc. I just hate the argument that if you live in New York City, well then, “what do you expect?” I expect that some areas will be obvious social centers and other sections will be quiet and residential. Bedford, Smith and etc are obviously commercial strips. Whatever goes into the deli space will affect people on the block and to be concerned does not make them full time complainers.