Boyfriend in tow, I hopped on a 5 train heading south to Brooklyn. It actually only took about 25 minutes to get to our exit at Nevins Street. Of course it took the same amount of time to find our destination, a restaurant called Stan’s Place on Atlantic Avenue, only a few blocks away. The streets are nowhere near as organized in Brooklyn as they are in most of Manhattan. What is a newcomer supposed to do but amble on like a lost pony? So amble we did.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on our surroundings. It went from graffiti-ed steel grates on shops to quaint boutiques to elaborately decorated turn-of-the-century brownstones to high-schoolers chumming on the street to yuppies trying to find the latest new hang-out spot. It was such an eclectic mix. Very intriguing.
We finally find Stan’s place, after learning that we’d turned down the wrong street because we couldn’t find any street signs, only to learn that our friends were just finishing their dinner and wanted to take us to another bar. Turn after turn, I quickly lost track of north I thought I’d found, and soon enough, even our guides who had lived in Brooklyn for several years were misguided by the angled streets and missing street signs.
We squeezed in to a very crowded Brooklyn Inn, a quaint sort of bar with a very old-time rustic feel, complete with ornate, blue wood décor surrounding the large wall-to-wall windows. This was all I was able to sample, though, because our Brooklynite friends whisked us away in search of a little space.
We end up on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. Again I found the mood of my surroundings a bit odd. Interspersed between closed shops, small groceries and a couple of delis were happening bars. Music would spew out and then end abruptly each time a door opened and closed. Dim candle lights could be seen through the darkened and decorated windows. Yet, hardly anyone was on the sidewalk.
When we walked into Camp, you would hardly know how empty it was outside. With walls covered in bark, deer heads hung high throughout the room, marshmallow roasting and drinks like the Dirty Girl Scout, this place took me straight to the great outdoors. I had a lot of fun watching various bar-goes play a hunting video game from my comfy log-cabin chair while sipping my CAMP signature martini (absolut vanilla and godiva white chocolate with, literally, a flaming marshmallow on a stick). Someone e
Getting home wasn’t too hard; only took about an hour to get back up to E. 94th Street. I’d consider that pretty good considering the fact that trains don’t come that often at 3 a.m.
So that was my adventure to Brooklyn. I’d say that I got quite the tour in one night. I’m on my way to becoming a “true New Yorker” and hitting the other three boroughs soon.
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