Well, here it is, your classic bad news/good news post. First, the bad news: the Brooklyn Night Bazaar will no longer be providing free shopping and concerts in Greenpoint, as their landlord is giving them the boot. The good news: the Brooklyn Night Bazaar is just rolling with it and riding a wave down to Rockaway, where they’ll be providing food, concerts and beer all season. Summer taketh away and summer giveth.
The news of the bazaar getting bounced from Greenpoint comes courtesy of BrooklynVegan, who report that the free shopping and music destination’s landlord told them to pack up and get out June 1. This gets us ever closer to the moment where finally north Brooklyn is free of those irritating music venues and locally made goods that no one comes here to enjoy and have Brooklyn’s famous condos. Or maybe some kind of Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins mega-complex will be there [UPDATE: BMW is the new tenant, but no word on if it’s for a dealership or if it will just be a BMW-only parking gargae]. There’s still a few scheduled shows you can enjoy, including one by Perfect Pussy on May 23, so get there and get your mini-golf and face stuffing in while you can.
On to the good news though! Jacob Riis Park, which is a nice beach already, is going to get even nicer, with the addition of food vendors and concerts brought to you by the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, running from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend, from 11am to 9pm every day. Bays 6 and 9 (nice) at Riis Beach will be playing host to food vendors like Fletcher’s Barbecue, Ample Hills, Brooklyn Star and Court Street Grocers. Oh, and there’ll be beer and frozen cocktails at the BarZaar too. Just like at the Greenpoint location, free concerts will happen Saturdays and Sundays, so you can get some show with your dinner. You can even order food from your phone and have it delivered to your beach chair, but we’re firmly in the camp of get up and walk to the dang concession stand and your phone should become clogged with sand if you try to do some Uber but for the beach crap.
As for getting there, the Riis Park Beach Bazaar has teamed up with our pals at the Beach Bus. Beyond providing their usual cheap fares down to Rockaway, there are also two more expensive options that come with a food and drink voucher ($33) or a food and drink voucher and a beach chair for the day ($35). Whatever you choose, just remember to put on sunscreen, because none of this will prevent you from getting an awful sunburn if you’re careless.
View Comments (2)
This is not good news for the people who already enjoy Riis Beach, including the primarily queer working class people of color who set up at the far east end of the beach. It's already a unique and magical place - it does not need to become the next Williamsburg. I'm so tired of all the really special, original things about this city being devoured by the utter sameness of the subway tile/artisanal food/flea market scene.
Riis park is a nice, pleasant beach. Why do the hipsters need to keep forcing their tastes onto everyone else? Not everybody wants to hear your music or have you selling your crappy homemade bead necklaces on the beach like a third world country.