Friday, August 2, 2013

Remembering the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge

On Monday, Gothamist had a post on the new Brooklyn Roasting Company that opened at the former home of the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge ... at Flushing and Washington Avenues opposite an entrance to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

We had been to the place, which was built in 1907, a few times... and, despite being way out of bounds in terms of typical EVG coverage, we decided to write about it in November 2010 upon hearing that the bar closed.

An excerpt.

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[A]t first glance inside the Navy Yard, the place seems like your average rundown neighborhood bar. A few regulars are milling about, playing pool. The bartender is cordial. (I'm sort of blending the different trips into one post here....it was always the same.) WBLS is on a little too loudly on the radio. The TV is also on seemingly just as loud — one of those CBS shows that I've never watched on Thursday nights. (CSINCS?)

Eventually around 10 p.m., a lot more women are suddenly in the bar... they walk in, talk with the bartender, spend a lot of time in the women's room. Soon, there are anywhere from five to 10 women va-va-va-vooming around in lingerie, bikinis, etc. Oh! They're all very outgoing, especially when there are just two of you in the bar.

Every few minutes Delicious or Cinnamon or Diamond walks up and asks again if you'd like a dance. No thanks! Two minutes later... There's not much of a chance of sitting here for, say, a few hours drinking without purchasing a $10 dance. (And they don't have change for a $20, oddly enough.) So just sit there in your stool at the bar for the lapdance and wonder why Laurence Fishburne decided to do CSINCS.

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Oh, and here how the place is looking today...


[Photo via Gothamist]

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the Navy Yard Cocktail Lounge (aka, RIP)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do they hate walls?

Anonymous said...

Damn, wanted to go to Navy Yard bar. : (

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

Wonder if the new place still features lap dances.

The Philosophical Zombie said...

What's a "Brooklyn?"

Anonymous said...

i don't know, but apparently, it needs to be roasted.

John, an old Navy white hat said...

My memories as a sailor aboard a ship home ported in Brooklyn Navy Yard go back to 1959 & my memories include two local Flushing Ave watering holes called, as I remember. Dirty Dan's & Thompson's. Do either of those tweak anyone's memory?

John, another old Navy white hat said...

Regarding the comment from John, an old Navy white hat, I went from shore duty at a Naval Air Station in Morocco to a hydrographic survey ship home ported in Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1959. Three months after I went aboard, we had our home port changed to Pearl & left for West Pac, but I was introduced to Dirty Dan's by an old salt buddy from my time in Morocco who called me on my ship one morning. He & another buddy had just got off a troop ship & I met them at Dirty Dan's. From that day to when we departed for Pearl, Dirty Dan's & Thompsons were our drinking hangouts when we went on liberty & didn't feel like riding the subway into Manhattan. Met a few local chicks in both places. Both were pretty decent watering holes for thirsty sailors.