Photo by Jammi York

Project Parlor
742 Myrtle Ave. (Sanford & Nostrand)
Bed-Stuy
(347) 497-0550

What is it: A charming ragtime parlor bar with a patchwork punk vibe and killer tap selection.

Why we love it: As an early inhabitant of the soon-to-be, maybe-already-is bustling section of Bed-Stuy, this spot has earned its keep among the neighborhood and was voted Best New Bar by the Village Voice in 2012. Despite the status upgrades, we love them because they’ve kept their raucous roots in tact and continue to be a destination for quiet drink seekers and late night revelers alike. (more…)

Get cozy at The Castello Plan

Because we know you love to go five fingers in on a tall frosty beer, we gave you the Brokelyn Beer Book. And because you love us, you bought all of them in just over a DAY (hey, thanks!). Even if you don’t have one, our new Brokelyn Bar Guide is perfect for planning a night out. You might be single, booed up, you might even be some Hanna Horvath mashup of in-betweenness, but it’s no excuse not to get out and grab a drink. Head on over to Ditmas Park hotspot The Castello Plan and impress your date with your expert pronunciation of the word “confit.” Or get cozy in front of the fireplace at Greenpoint’s Black Rabbit Bar. And you’ll never look more kissable than under the dim lights of the ever-quaint, subterranean bar at Bed Stuy’s Bedford Hill. Not everyone will find true love this year, but at least you’ll find a buzz.

With Drynuary nearly halfway over, we know you’re counting beer bottles to put yourself to sleep. Luckily, while you’ve been weeping into your $9 green-machine veggie shakes, we’ve been hard at work assembling our 2013 Beer Books, otherwise known as the greatest thing ever. Why? Because we love you and your love of bars with local microbrew and otherwise delicious beer selections, even if they might cost a little more to enjoy. (more…)

Thank you but your baby is in another uterus.

It’s August 1st, what are you doing? 1) Moving into a new apartment; 2) Pre-emptively mourning the end of summer, in which case, relax, there are still 51 days left; 3. Getting free birth control? If you answered one or two, good luck holding onto the screws for your IKEA bed. If you think No. 3 is too good to be true, it’s not.

Today marks the roll-out day for a new mandate requiring individual or employer-based insurance plans (you uninsureds are still out of luck) to offer contraceptive coverage without a co-pay. That means if you sign or renew a health insurance policy after today, your birth control is now free, along with a bunch of other things that are now free, including mammograms, screenings for cervical cancer and prenatal care. (more…)

Graphic by Meghan Doherty

We all know that the roving cast of Brokelyn characters can round up the best $1 oysters like they’re slow-moving cattle. But when we’re not acting as low-budget sleuths, turns out we can still craft a line of pretty prose. In case you were wondering what kind of weird stuff Brokelyn’s journalists come up with in our spare time, on Wednesday you’ll finally have a chance to find out and quit your creepy questioning. Six of our contributors will be reading original essays and fiction works at the inaugural night of Words with Beers, a new reading series from our pals at Bedford Hill (the scene of the first Brokelandia episode), led by Brokelyn alum Meghan Doherty and your’s truly. (more…)

There's no crying in journalism.

Maybe it’s all those Kate Hudson rom-coms I watched, but making it as a lady journalist is a lot tougher than it seemed during my Talk-Girl-toting days. Any J-school grad could lay out the bare bone facts of the media industry’s gender issue. It’s a teeter totter out there, one with a fat kid eating a gallon of ice cream on one end and a housefly on the other. The discrepancies aren’t breaking news anymore: We’re past reporting, and into corrective action. So how do we even the ratio out?  (more…)

Kio Stark thinks your grad school savings have better places to go. Like around the world.

In the middle of getting a PhD in American Studies, Kio Stark dropped out after she realized how much she could be learning on her own. Now, she’s one of the leading evangelists for independent learning and, perhaps ironically, an adjunct faculty  at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. She is the author of Don’t Go Back to School: A Handbook for Learning Almost Anything, featuring interviews with successful independent learners like Cory Doctorow, Dan Sinker, and Quinn Norton. We spoke to her about how to DIY grad school, the growing recognition of self-education and what it takes to get a really awesome job right now. Spoiler! It’s not that piece of paper. You know. That one.  (more…)

Shopping while drunk is not something we’d typically endorse here at Brokelyn, if only because it’ll empty your pockets faster than you can say, “How cute does this Bloody Mary look on me?” Plus, the next-day hangover is a two-parter, because you’ll be lucky if you’ve got the cash left to swing a Gatorade. The best way to prevent your vodka-buffered buyer’s remorse? How’s about some drunk deals? Shop, Drop, Drink is Williamsburg’s all-day answer to this weekend’s otherwise pious Passover/Easter holidays. This Saturday, 50 shops, bars and eating spots will offer storewide sales and special giveaways, including free mini ice cream sundaes from Mlik Bar, zombie makeovers (?!?) at 8 of Swords, and for the heartiest guzzlers, even more wine and whiskey at Brooklyn Oenology Winery’s in-store tastings. (more…)

Sergei's sound massage in action. Would this be considered infidelity?

I’ve only paid for a few massages in my life, but I know how they work. Walk into a softly-lit room, drop trow and wait on a cushioned table for a quiet healer’s oiled hands to pull back the sheet and hit play on a Pure Moods cassette. Then again, this is Brooklyn. A place where cartoonists will sharpen your pencils, the arteesenal way. And a massage can be a “massage performance” using sound waves instead of oiled-up palms.

This weekend at Issue Project Room downtown, Brooklyn-based electronic musician Sergei Tcherepnin is hooking up volunteers to his synthesizers via “magnetic transducers (like a speaker without a cone)” For a half hour, he’ll pump his music into your bod, and rather than hearing it, you will feel a “six-channel electronic composition.” All I really know is that it sounds cool, and I’m SIGNING UP.

It’s free, but they’re asking a suggested donation of $10. Get all the details, including RSVP info, on our Brooklyn events calendar.

Writers of both the realized and aspiring kinds know the sometimes torturous solitude that accompanies their star-crossed profession. Or at least, the torturous impulse to keep hitting refresh on their Facebook feeds. Brooklyn writers now have an affordable way to flee their desk distractions and break through writer’s block, without 8-week commitments or cultish memberships in groups that make you flash your pedigree card before joining. The New York Writers’ Coalition offers weekly pay-what-you-wish writing workshops [link fixed] every Wednesday afternoon (that’s today), right in the center of Literary Brooklyn — and Walt Whitman’s old stomping grounds — Fort Greene. Writers of any experience level and type are welcome, but sessions are capped at 25 participants so early arrival is encouraged. No sign-up is required. (more…)