Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Brewery

From yesterday's wanderings I knew I liked Brooklyn a lot.  After today, I think I may love it.  It feels more real to me and my experiences.  It's not about youth and fashion and glamour.  It's about gritty and hard-working and creative and anti-Madison Avenue.

Williamsburg reminds me of what South Street in Philadelphia was like 20-25 years ago.  Somewhat marginalized, a little on the edge, a place where artists and others not in the corporate world went for reasonable rents and spaces to create.  This is Williamsburg...probably for another week.

I wandered around Bedford, 6th, and 7th and saw just one chain store - a dreaded Subway.  All the other stores were unique and the restaurants seemed inexpensive.  There were gay men and "geeks" and "hipsters."  I even saw one mohawk.  There were many young people dressed in vintage clothes, and there were vintage clothing stores and sidewalk sales in quite a few places.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

I took the 6 train to the L train and stopped at the first stop in Brooklyn, Bedford Ave.  (Just this location alone - such an easy commute to Manhattan - surely will seal the eventual fate of this community.)  I was heading toward the Brooklyn Brewery.

I had seen signs in Manhattan stores and bars advertising this beer but I had never tried it.  I wanted to learn more about it.  As I walked to the brewery on 11th St, I passed unlikely combinations of a boarded-up, razor-wired building next to a fancy gallery.  There were also old warehouses everywhere.

The bouncer at the brewery told me that 5 years ago no one would walk in this neighborhood during the day.  It didn't seem scary now but it was certainly "raw."  He said how much the neighborhood had changed and is continuing to change. 

I did a brief tour at the brewery and then had a Weise beer.  It was good.  The lager I sampled was pretty good, too.  But I was more interested in getting back out to the street and exploring. 

The brewery cat, who greeted me from the bags of barley when I entered, looked to be ancient.  He was less of a guard cat when I left, however, because someone gave him a bit of hot dog.

 

I probably walked for another 30-40 minutes.  The neighborhood was alive with energy.  I couldn't help to wonder how "yuppified" it would become in a few years...especially after I passed a wine bar and a brick-oven pizzeria.  I also saw sites where "luxury condos" were "coming soon.  Change is coming....

In the meantime, this little guy was enjoying himself in the sun.  I later heard a couple talking about t"he French" that hangs out in the window and looks at people.  I'm honored to have encountered this neighborhood celebrity.  He was just one other thing I love about Brooklyn.

Russian Orthodox Church in the neighborhood