Found in Brooklyn has the entire email that the owner sent around. Here's an excerpt:
"Due to ever increasing threats to the stability of Freddy’s bar in light of the Arena project, recent court decisions, an overwhelming number of Freddy's patrons desire to chain themselves to the bar if Scrooge Ratner and Grinch Paterson's Atlantic Yards Project attempts to shutdown and demolish Freddy's Bar and Backroom.
This Sunday, we are installing chains & shackles onto the Bar itself for just such a purpose."
graffiti in Freddy's backroom
Freddy's has been around for a long time.
Fans for Fair Play writes: "Freddy's serves working people from Prohibition days 'til now. Before the Eighteenth Amendment is repealed, Freddy's is a speakeasy. There is also bowling for a spell. Freddy's is for factory people, including the pressmen from the Daily News plant around the corner--Freddy's wets striking whistles during the tense 1990 strike. Closer to now, Freddy's is a cop bar. These days, everyone from punk rockers to firefighters to opera singers to local barflies call Freddy's home."
In this photo from 1952, Dodger fans drown their sorrows in pints of Freddy's beer.
Freddy's, 1952
That's the same bar today. If these men are still alive, and able-bodied, maybe they'll show up on Sunday, too, handcuffs in hand, ready to take a stand against corporate greed and dirty politics.
8 comments:
New Yok City already has a basketball team.
Go and build a new arena over in Long Island somewhere.
Hell yes.
Ah, Freddy's is one of my old favorites. They used to have a pink frog with black claws in a tank in the little step-down area between the two rooms. After 8-12 drinks, that thing was fascinating.
Long live Freddy's!
direct action gets the goods, how they saved the people's firehouse too
Its really not about the basketball team. I seriously doubt the Nets every play in Brooklyn.
Does anyone still watch the NBA anyway? I lost any remaining interest when it turned out the refs were crooked.
It's not just about building an taxpayer-subsidized arena and all of the slush money that comes with it, it's about changing the demographics of that area. The larger issue here is the abuse of "eminent domain" for the benefit of private developers rather than for the benefit of the public. "Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn" (http://dddb.com) is the only group we know of that are ON this issue, fighting to save Brooklyn and Willets Point in Queens. They need our support....
I've played with my band in the backroom of Freddy's , and still do from time to time ; there is truely no place like it. It has that old cozy feel, that can't be found anyplace else. A perfect meeting spot for friends. A pity indeed that it will be demolished. One thing is certain : the last thing that area needs is an arena ! Traffic already is a problem - imagine what it will be like come game days !
i may need to join the chain gang - when i moved back to brooklyn in 97 freddys was one of the first spots i hit - i remember catching the spunklads by accident and thinking what a beautiful world where free local music is walking distance
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