No more Strollers at Union Hall

i agree with someone else...

we should pass a special law in park slope that again allows smoking in bars.

i'd go more often, that's for sure.

although i have to say...i do like union hall...they have a lovely outdoor smoking area.

Smoke in bars, good. Kids in bars, bad. I guess it's all in what annoys you. Me, I'd rather deal with a kid than cancer.

steve wrote: can't tell if this is serious, but if so.awesome, babies and bars are a bad combination.

Amen! Any drunk person could trip on strollers and send beer glasses flying through the air to break on babies' heads. And what about cafes? Hot coffee can do damage too. The babies are better off banned from bars.

I guess I'm a bit torn and maybe it depends on my mood.
On one hand, I don't like the silly law that requires you to be 21 to drink, then again, I also don't want to be at a bar with drunk little kids either, now that I'm way way past 21.

Now as far as little-little kids are concerned (who presumably are not drunk but are with their family who, for whatever reason, chose not to hire a sitter), I don't really wanna see them, but I don't really care too much either.

I guess I just don't like the fact that the bar should be chastised if they make a decision to NOT allow kids. If they don't wanna have kids in Union Hall, then F*CK everyone, it's their choice.... plenty of other bars to go to if you must bring kids. Just because we live in a nabe' with a lot of kids shouldn't mean that they have a free pass to do whatever they want.

And I think a place like Union Hall (or most NYC establishments with limited space) strollers should be banned/parked out front/somewhere out of the way. I can't tell you how many times I've tripped over them and they certainly could be a BIG fire hazard if people needed to rush out.

Subject: My 2 cents

my two cents, for what its worth, is that I only went to Union Hall twice and both times was appalled to be sitting next to toddlers while trying talk to my girlfriends (sometimes graphically) about life. So I've not been back. I'll give it another try if its not going to feel like a preschool.

I am so confused. Since when can anyone under the age of 21 enter a bar???

I recently tried slipping my 13-year-old cousin into a bar around 7 PM -- I just saw someone I knew that I wanted to say "hi" to real quick. The bouncer stopped us from entering and shook his head, "no way!"

This whole thing is absurd. I walked past Union Hall yesterday around 1pm and saw several strollers and babies/toddlers inside. I am pretty sure I saw some moron holding a glass of beer in one hand and an infant in the other. My wife an I do not have any children, we do hope to have a baby in the near future but there is not one scenario I can come up with where we would take our child to a bar. From my point of view it seems selfish and irresponsible. If you want go to a bar find someone to watch your kid(s). It is stuff like this that gets Park Slope the reputation for the insane parents. This is very much like the people who bring babies to sporting events and movei theaters and other situations like that. If you can't find someone to watch your child then don't go. I'm sure there are plenty of parents out there that feel that they shouldn't have to change their lifestyle 100% and should be able to do many things they did before they had a child. Yes that is all true, but get a damned babysitter otherwise you are just being a selfish prick.

kosherdave wrote: A few of us planned to meet up for lunch and drinks Saturday at Union Hall. Got there around 1:30 and there was a BABY SHOWER!

Here I was, thinking I could go for a nice bite and some beer and there were kids yelling and running around. Wow.

There was a nice baby-shower baloon tied to the sign out front... something EVERY bar needs I'm sure.

Sadly, we had to go elsewhere.

Um... wow. I'm having a baby in April, and I would never have held a shower at a bar. This holds true, even though I'm one of "those people" who will probably pop by the Gate this summer for a quick pint of something delicious while my infant naps in her stroller. Napping baby in a stroller for one quick drink = fine, in my book. Baby shower in a bar, with a number of ambulatory kids running around and such = no way, no how, uh uh.

Three weeks ago, my friend and I met for lunch in Park Slope, with our four-month-old sons and strollers in tow. Oblivious to the Park Slope stroller wars (we live in other parts of Brooklyn), we decided to slip into UH for a drink after lunch, only to find that two different mommy groups had commandeered the entire front of the bar. There were strollers, bjorns, diaper bags and boobs all over the place. WE got dirty looks from the Alpha-moms when we asked them to move their strollers and bags from the only open seating so the two of us could sit down. I asked the bartender if they had even called ahead to say that 20 of them would be showing up and they had not. Seemed a bit rude and self-entitled.

I'm still new to life with baby and baby accoutrements and am always painfully self-aware when I enter an establishment with my giant stroller and baby. I haven't forgotten how irritating it was to trip over other peoples' kids when I was childless. I won't say I don't go to bars now that I have a kid, but mine doesn't walk or crawl and I can't imagine we'll be able to enjoy ourselves in a bar once he does. Mommy and Daddy will just have to get crunked on the playground...

daver wrote: [quote=mrsdpd]There were strollers, bjorns, diaper bags and boobs all over the place.

Dude, I didn't know that UH was B.Y.O.Boob.
Isn't there generally an understanding that "no outside beverages" are allowed in bars? Surely bringing your own tap is verbotten.

I have never been to Union Hall-but, isn't it a bar??

I will never get the bring your kid/baby to a bar mentality.

meganlibrarian wrote: [quote=raw]I am so confused. Since when can anyone under the age of 21 enter a bar???

I recently tried slipping my 13-year-old cousin into a bar around 7 PM -- I just saw someone I knew that I wanted to say "hi" to real quick. The bouncer stopped us from entering and shook his head, "no way!"

I think it really depends. I'm 33, and was turned away from The Gate last year without an ID (I hadn't brought my wallet with me, for some reason). Trust me when I say that I definitely look older than 21! If I'd shown up before their bouncer had started for the night, I'd have gotten in with no problem. I'd have to wonder if the same would've happened with your cousin if you'd been there before the bouncer.
If you forget your ID again, hop into my stroller and I'll push you in.

I..I..I...wa--wahhhhwould like to request that all ba-ba-bars aaaaaahhhhhhhlow us pa-pa-parents to dr-dri-drink with our kids in public....We must get liquored-up...somewhere...somewhere fun...out of the in-laws' sight....

My favvvorite bar g-gives plastic sippy cups to toddlers shaped like Jack Daniels bottles yesssssssss....

i can't find any posts here that bash kids, whine about kids, or frankly even whine. mostly we're asking why some parents want to bring their little ones to bars.

what if i went hang out on one of the jungle gyms at the 3rd street playground with a group of adult friends and their tots and a picnic that included a few bottles of wine? how quickly do you think we'd be asked to leave? is alcohol even allowed there? more so, please tell me who gets angry that this childrens' venue isn't set up for happy hour?

there are places for adults, there are places for children. why is this such a hard concept to grasp?