On August 18th 2006 I moved from Columbus, Ohio to Brooklyn, New York. My first New York apartment was on the edge of the hip neighborhood of Williamsburg, sandwiched between ever-increasing numbers of young transplanted hipsters and Puerto Rican, Dominican and Italian locals. 3, his fiancé and I immediately made point of checking out as many local bars as we could to find “our place” and a week into our stay in the neighborhood we found it in one Bushwick Country Club.
What wasn’t to love? A divey bar that was dark and homey featuring a 2-4-1 happy hour from 5-8 - a deal that wasn’t as ubiquitous at the time as it is now and boasting one of the best all-round bartending staffs I’d ever encountered. Phillip was our first bartender, the nerdy but uber personable big man with whom we’d discuss Heroes back when it was good (circa right when it was starting) and Watchmen (long before it was a Major Motion Picture). He made us feel right at home and soon enough even made us “members” allowing us to get the specialty house cocktail for a dollar off and to drink free on hour birthdays. Heather – whose musical taste I always found the best of all the BCC bartenders – quickly became a favorite as well because of her disarming and quirky friendliness and her ability to somehow pay attention to everybody at the bar at once. Thomas, he of the Free Pulled Pork Sundays, Megan and Ryan filled out a stable of bartenders with home we were all familiar and with whom we’ve all spent countless hours and dollars.
As bad as it sounds, in those early days the BCC was my home away from home. Hating my job at Barnes and Noble I spent at least three nights a week four blocks from my house bellied up to the bar, chatting and drinking more than I should have.
It came as quite a shock the other day when I discovered that the place has started to feel like just another bar. It’s certainly still a good bar, but while Heather is still my bartender, BCC is no longer my bar.
It’s hard to put a finger on what’s changed. The jukebox is still perennially “out of order”. The lights are still low. The booze is still cheap. The grill in the back is still open to anyone with raw food and a desire to cook. The novelty miniature golf course still sits largely unused in the back. In the end I think the biggest thing that’s changed is me.
My job is steadier and pays more (though still not nearly enough). I hang out with more people in more places than just this watering hole that I no longer live close to. And really the BCC is a bar for drinkers at a time when I don’t want to drink as much anymore.
Is there such a difference between 23 and 26 that this place should seem so different to me, so less comfortable? That I should feel more at home at Second Chance up the block with the thirty-somethings that lived in the neighborhood before it was cool?
That case race last week really served to put in startling focus various parts of my life (the stupidly overdrinking parts) that I’m not terribly interested in anymore. I guess it’s time to find a new vice. Good thing I live in New York.
Nice read. I don't feel as connected to the BCC as you, since you spent more than your fair share of time wandering in its intricacies than I did, even though I live(d) one block away. Funnily, My revisits to Wburg will likely be confined to the BCC, Anna Maria's Pizza, and possibly Lily Thai's, if only because I was across the street at BCC for some reason.
ReplyDeleteBCC isn't the greatest bar in the world, but my romance with it comes more from the fond memory, albeit revisionist to an extent, that it was the place that "took us in" when we first arrived, more so than any other bar in the area. It probably won't ever become "just another bar" to me for that reason alone, and going to see Heather or Thomas or Ryan is the luxury it affords. I see more what a change in neighborhoods can do to a person's drinking habit(at)s more than the changes a person goes through in these mid-20s ages. To me, the "need a drink" mentality will always spur memories of BCC, even if that feeling is less prominent these days. Which isn't to say that it is, because right now, I could use one...
I have to agree this is a nice read and i guess I was never really connected to the BCC. I was only there due to it being your watering hole. Kat and I used to get down at reds, what happened we just abandoned the place like a bad step-child. I do have agree, I don't make many trips out to willyburg except to ride through, now there isn't anyone there anymore.
ReplyDeleteI do however like my new bar, but it feels like a lot my art friends are moving away and I found a new home at the pub. I CB is a good place and it feels grown up and I can throw down their when I need more then a few cocktails.