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February 3, 2007
Old Bars and Luxe New Development
Village Voice
The Bowery, McCarren Park, Atlantic Yards: Every hot-investment neighborhood has at least one hallowed bar clutching to survival despite the encroaching shadows of big development. Question is, how long can these old establishments hang on?
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In Prospect Heights, Freddy's (485 Dean Street) lies, according to manager Donald O'Finn, "in the footprint" of Bruce Ratner's megalomaniac development. Eight or so years ago this Prohibition-era cop bar was charmingly reborn and redecorated by O'Finn and friends with a mass of thrift-store tchotchkes, books stuck into built-in shelves, and televisions screening O'Finn's videos (reformatted old film and TV clips). In addition to sponsoring its own in-house literary magazine and providing a space for community activist groups like Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Freddy's hosts some of the city's most original readings and performances: Sing and Win a Ham, and the much praised Cringe Reading Night of teenage diary excerpts. What will become of this place once Ratner's fantasy is fully realized? "Last I heard, we were destined to become an escalator," says O'Finn. "Which is kind of ironic."
Posted by amy at February 3, 2007 9:11 AM