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Why does every block have to have 3 or more bars. What is the fascination with this?
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Because:
(1) Bars are fun
(2) People love to get drunkIt's quite simple.
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Trying to beat the competition?
I thought is was Oneonta New York, but I found references to Athens Georgia and Fell's Point Maryland.
Fell's Point has the peculiar distinction of having more bars per square mile than anywhere else in the US. What's even more strange- there are FEWER bars here now than there were 100 years ago! We're not kidding! Literally every other building in Fell's Point seems to be a bar, so you will have no shortage of places to imbibe. http://www.fellspointghost.com/guide.html
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(3.) People need to make a living, and some have concluded that running a bar in this area seems like a good way to achieve that.
For better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor. -
Having been to Fell's Point, I can attest to that.
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not sure if this is meaningful because one can buy beer at a grocery store
March 16, 2010, 2:41 pm 16 Comments
The Beer Belly of America
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Conservatives know it as the “American heartland.” Elitist liberals know it as “flyover country.” But to serious drinkers, the Midwest should perhaps be known as the “beer belly of America.”The map below shows the parts of America where bars outnumber grocery stores (red dots) and vice versa (yellow dots). Note where the map is rosiest:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/the-beer-belly-of-america/
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(4). Bars have relatively low barriers to entry in terms of investment, relative to their potential profit, than other types of businesses.
For better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor. -
There are, in fact, quite a lot of bars in Wisconsin, my home state.
I'd reckon that bars are pretty easy to start, can be profitable if run well, and, since Prospect Heights is a central location in Brooklyn and also easily accessible from Manhattan, it's a good place for friends to meet up and go out.
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My complete speculation on this question:
1) In a down economy people drink more, so opening a bar during a recession is a good business
2) The neighborhood has more young adults, older adults masquerading as young adults, and extremely mature post-adolescents than it has in the past and each of those demographics believe that getting shitfaced on a regular is a time honored tradition that they need to uphold.
3) As the demographics of the neighborhood have changed, white folks needed some place to socialize where they didn't have to worry about running into their "less desirable" neighbors. Now that most of those people have moved, the bars remain as reminder of how gentrification is only a jar of sour mash away.
4) Cash businesses are the perfect way to launder money from ill-gotten gains. The PH demographics don't allow for a fake-hair shop, nail salon, and barbershop on every corner, but they will support any place with a decent selection of micro-brews and the ability to support a)trivia nights, b)readings by pretentious authors and/or c) karaoke so the greenbacks have found their way to the neighborhood.
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Homeowner-
There is some good stuff in there!I would merely add that some of these people lived in this part of Brooklyn before all these bars appeared here.
As a result, they use to drink in Manhattan after work and/or on weekends, but now drink locally.
The drinking isn't new.
The people aren't especially new.
The location of the people drinking is new.
For better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor. -
As the demographic changed, there was an equivalent increase for rent of retail/commercial space. This drove out the existing businesses that weren't able to pay the rent. A bar catering to the new demographic brings in much more revenue than a hair braiding place, so it can afford to pay the high rent. It becomes a cycle of success: bars do well and attract other bars, so the commercial rents go up further, and existing businesses continue to leave and are replaced by high revenue places like bars. It is a pretty typical cycle of gentrification. Look at Williamsburg.
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Why don't people protest the opening of bars like they do pawn shops? Bars bring unruly, drunk, criminals into the neighborhood.
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I suspect if one were able to pawn stolen jewlery at a bar there would be a different attitude. Bars bring the criminals? And here, this whole time I thought bars just brought people who liked craft beer!
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Most of the bars I've been to around here have been pretty calm. You have to have a pretty big budget to get loaded on $6 beers.
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I live right by a bunch of bars on Washington and the most late night noise ever was a few weeks ago when ice formed on the sidewalk on a cold night and patrons one by one would leave the bar and wipe out on the sidewalk. Otherwise people are very well behaved at the local bars by me. No complaints.
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I often see security at some of the more popular bars (Crown Inn, Franklin Park, 95-S), but rarely at the small ones (Washington Commons, Sepia, 739 Franklin).
I assume the small ones feel instances of fist fights etc are rare enough that they can usually be handled by the service staff.
For better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor.
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