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August 31, 2008
New York City Music Clubs
Lucid Culture
This listing, titled "New York City Music Clubs" includes an entry for Freddy's, located in the footprint for the proposed Atlantic Yards.
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. And Freddy’s seems to be winning their seemingly endless court battle with megalomaniac developer Bruce Ratner. At this point, it looks like his plans to bring the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn (why didn’t somebody consult Dr. J beforehand?!?), and seize private housing inhabited by working people via eminent domain have collapsed. Since all this was planned to be built with borrowed money, the banks who initially wanted to finance all those plastic-and-sheetrock luxury condos have become very reluctant to to get involved. Til the verdict becomes official, if you’re in the neighborhood, this is one establishment that deserves your support, considering how valiantly they’ve fought to stay in business.
NoLandGrab: The court battles continue and Ratner vows to build the project, although financing looks sketchy. Unfortunately, plans for proposed Atlantic Yards project have not yet collapsed.
Posted by steve at August 31, 2008 7:25 AM