When we gave you a first look at Manhattan’s new Brooklyn tribute bar, the Brooklyneer, one commenter wrote, “This is extremely ridiculous. If people want products from Brooklyn why can’t they take the subway there?” Writer Alexander Nazaryanb now goes deeper in a mock indignant piece for the Daily News that begins, “They’ve done it, they’ve killed Brooklyn,” and goes on to proclaim, “I’m beyond outraged, and I speak for the hundreds, no thousands, of twenty- and thirtysomethings who moved to Brooklyn with the pride of trailblazers only to now realize, with growing horror, that the borough where they live is about as undiscovered as Times Square.” He writes, “With the opening of the Brooklyneer, all of the little things you loved about the borough, all those yuppie comforts that borough boosters endlessly trumpet, have been revealed for what they are — things one can buy, and quite easily at that. And now, you don’t even have to go to Brooklyn to buy them.”
A Daily News commenter addresses the issue without quite so much tongue-in-cheek: “You can thank all of the unwanted pos transient dirtbags from middle America and young professionals who have transferred here (you can also count our Massachusetts mayor) for the destruction of BKLYN and our other neighborhoods. They have changed a once great city into their own version of what they think NYC should be. They can take their gentrification and their Starbucks and shove them up their arses!”
Meanwhile, Gothamist’s John del Signore is all for the Brooklyneer, though he admits it might be the free booze he scored at a press preview talking: “As residents of Brooklyn, we also know how many times we’ve shot down plans to meet on Manhattan’s West Side with a whiny, ‘We’re not going all the way into the city!’ So why not bring some Brooklyn flavor to West Villagers who might feel a similar slothfulness when it comes to the crosstown commute?”
A Gothamist commenter wonders why they didn’t just open it in Brooklyn: “They could have opened it here, marketed it as a best-of-brooklyn restaurant, and pulled some Manhattanites to the other side. It feels like all these things that are special about Brooklyn are being hand-delivered to people that don’t really deserve it (I speak of course of those that don’t dare come to BK).“
But another commenter there sees the upside: “Exactly, we have enough assholes in Brooklyn, keep the rest of the assholes in their island.” And an Eater commenter feels the same way: “Great! new to manhattan transplants can get their taste of brooklyn and stay the fuck out of my neighborhood on the weekends.”
Or is the bar actually a lure for Brooklynites? A Yelp reviewer writes, “I want to think the woman changing her baby’s diaper and breastfeeding was as a one time thing, or maybe this woman was visiting from Park Slope where that’s par for the course in the ‘baby in a bar/baby not in a bar’ debate.” Another Yelp user sees the Brooklyneer as “Manhattan’s final admission that its X factor has been surpassed.”
So, what is it? Is the Brooklyneer the death of Brooklyn? Or the death of Manhattan? Or is it just some gimmicky restaurant that serves pickles and hot dogs?
Brooklyneer: Is It Obnoxious to Open Bar Homage to Brooklyn? [Gothamist]
Killing It: Brooklyneer to be More Obnoxious Than Previously Thought [Eater NY]
Brooklyneer, new Manhattan restaurant, marks the end of Brooklyn cool [NYDN]
