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June 12, 2008
New York City Music Venues
Freddy's Bar and Backroom is the place to check out music and shove it to landgrabbing overdeveloper Bruce Ratner at the same time.
Freddy’s
485 Dean St., sort of Prospect Heights area, Brooklyn
Any train to Atlantic Ave. Walk on Flatbush away from Brooklyn Heights to Pacific St. Left on Pacific, then take your first right, go past the police station and the club is right on the corner.
This legendary neighborhood dive has a corner bar upstairs and the music room downstairs. The sound is so-so in the fairly small, low-ceilinged basement room with benches and tables. The crowd is totally oldschool Brooklyn: it’s a friendly place. Drinks are cheap and the waitstaff is nice. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor here. The quality of the acts here is above average; booking here, like at most of the other well-established venues has seen a visible decline, as musicians are being priced out of the neighborhood and the city in general. But Freddy’s seems to be winning their seemingly endless court battle with megalomaniac developer Bruce Ratner, whose plans to bring the New Jersey Nets (why didn’t somebody consult Dr. J beforehand?!?), and destroy the neighborhood’s remaining middleclass housing so he can build a plastic-and-sheetrock luxury housing complex, have hit a major snag. In the meantime, if you’re in the area, this is one establishment that deserves your support.
Posted by lumi at June 12, 2008 4:05 AM