has anyone been to Prospect Pond lately?

I thought you were referring to the water body in Prospect Park

Also, I don't think I would be using the word "improvements." More like 'changes.' And while change can be good....me no likey.

Anyway- you sound like a shill. Make sure to tell the investors what we think since they dumped Tracey.

I don't go often, but always have a good time when there. Sam (one of the bartenders and manager) is a really really nice guy. Good vibe and cheap drinks.

I still actually haven't gone. I liked it as "Manhattans" when Tracey was there and decided to quasi boycott the place after it became Prospect Pond. I like local business though and it seems like they are at least trying, so I would be open to stopping in one of these days. Nothing about it has really grabbed me but maybe I'll try to make a point of going.

We were lured in a while back by the promise of free shots, and stayed for a couple of drinks and a chat with the friendly bartender. We were also curious about the discreetly placed rainbow flag that used to be in the window... But the flag was removed not long afterwards, so it seems it was just a vestige from the old Ripple Bar, which used to have a queer night.

I'm not outraged by any stretch, but I am disappointed that the current owner/management felt it necessary to distance itself from the slightest suggestion that they were anything but a hetero bar. Can't a community bar be welcoming to all?

Anyway, this also had me thinking that Prospect Pond might have missed out on an opportunity to be a gathering place for those of us in CH who might not always feel like traveling to Manhattan, Williamsburg, or Park Slope for a gay bar. Especially with the closure of Starlite, it seems like there's a void in the neighborhood. Does anyone agree?

Worked for Prospect Park - specifically on the pond. 7:30 in the morning, me dragging an all-aluminum boat to the shoreline, hoisting the motor to the back pulling on the string and zooming away.Pioneering Park Slope proto-hipster soccer moms and their dudes in their boatshoes walking their dogs with their coffee gaped at this big Negro zooming on the body of water. I had a morning ritual: Stopped the boat in the middle of the lake, got some matches out of my pocket and pulled a beedy from the pack, lay on my back, smoked that sucker to the bitter end, sucking in the bitter rank until my lungs burned and then exhaled. Overhead geese and gulls flew; felt their cries leave their lungs resonate off the water, hit the shore and then back to the thin boat, making it vibrate. The rank smoke of the beedy mixed with the chill in the air.

Then I would get to work....

I was there on a Monday night about a month ago, heard some of the best live music I've ever enjoyed in Brooklyn. Classic R&B, Soul, and some new stuff that I couldn't label even if I tried, just good stuff all around. Very diverse crowd as far as race, age, and couples of all kinds having a good time. Drinks were strong and reasonably priced. Place was jumping like a Sat. night on a Monday. The only thing that has kept me away is the bitter cold walk on over, will return when temps. rise.

Whoops - forgot to mention, no cover charge for excellent music, they just passed the hat for tips.

So here is what my thinking is: Isn't it funny how experiences are commodified and sold to us? Prospect Pond, Franklin Park, becomes things to consume, like fancy finger sandwiches with sexy names. The rhetoric about whether or not it is prejudice to brand such things as boojie and/or 'classist' notwithstanding, what ever happened to places named after people? 'Bill's bar' now becomes 'Intangible Experience'. Everything is subject to CalvinKleinization. We are buying what we want to think we are, instead of just a glass of cheap wine in flunky bar.

I go there from time to time on the way home. All the bartenders are cool..all different sizes and colors..all with a little different following. There is nothing bourgeois about the place,people or the products inside..unless PBR is now upscale. The area competition so far has been good for the consumer but I am not sure how good it is for the bars..Prospect Pond appears to be the most underpatronized of all the area establishments. I like Sepia, Wash Comm and Frank Pk..Franlin Park is upscale if you consider ski ball, pinball and fried food to be aristocratic

Sorry we're not engaging you in 2011. I'll try harder if you FB-Like my comments.