NEW YORK - This city has always tempted visitors to play make-believe, and lower Manhattan has always been the stage for anyonehungering to act the bohemian for a day. Brooklyn has recently stolenthat stage, though, and the Williamsburg section is one happeningvenue.
Yes, Brooklyn is radioactively hip these days, although inaccordance with the postulates of cool, a scene discovered is a scenefast declared over. (At some point the hippest New Yorkers will haveto live in houseboats.) But then Brooklyn is hardly a newdestination. With Manhattanites moving in and new immigrantscontinually infusing the borough, the population continues to grow.
Williamsburg, home to Hasidic Jews, Latinos, Poles, and manyartists, bustles with creativity. The lower rents allow for anentrepreneurial spirit impossible in Greenwich Village, whichcorporate chains have mall-ified. Some Williamsburg residentscomplain that the place is being SoHo-ed, that the artists who movedin a decade ago and provided the place its raffish charm are beingreplaced now by trendy restaurants, bars, poseurs, and climbingrents.
Yet these restaurants, bars, coffee shops, galleries, and the manycolorful people are what provide the place its verve. To a visitor,the raffish charms are flourishing.
Orientation
An easy trip from Manhattan, Williamsburg is one subway stop from14th Street on the L line, a $10-$15 cab ride from Midtown. Theliveliest portion of the neighborhood is shaped in a rough rectangle,with numbered cross streets. Bedford Avenue, also the name of thecentral subway stop, forms the geographic and commercial spine of therectangle.
There's no better locale for an exhilarating, if world-weary roundabout afternoon walk. The intense sunlight on the East River, thecheap loft spaces in the aging industrial buildings, the smellemanating from the Domino Sugar plant - all are sensed by thewandering pedestrian.
Where to start? A fine organizing principle for a day in hep-catWilliamsburg is first to focus on its many ramshackle, vintage junkshops, then nosh in any one of the three coolest diners around.
Getting dressed
Most important for the bohemian day-tripper is proper dress. Firststop, right in the center of Williamsburg, is Beacon's Closet, one ofthe finest vintage clothing shops in the city. The walls are pink,and globe lights dangle from the ceiling. Along the wall is an arrayof men's shirts, coats, and suits, with the rest of the store devotedto women's clothes. New Yorkers come from all over to hunt down aleopard-skin corset or the perfect old dinner jacket. Intent shoppersscour the racks, which span velour and paisley, leather and lace. Theconstant clientele keeps the shelves fresh.
What are the true bohemians wearing these days? Judging by thevariety of retro items for sale, the answer would seem to lie infinding something that is vividly, even shockingly you. Locate afeathered '40s hat, a suede-fringed motorcycle jacket, or a pair ofsequined platforms, and get back to the street.
Junk extraordinaire
A trove of what some call 'home decor purveyors' - or junk shops -can be found two blocks west of Bedford, along Wythe Avenue. With agiant city of used furniture and knickknacks to comb through, therange of style is considerable. It's not surprising that each of theshops (and shopkeepers) puts forth a particular, offbeat personality.Exploring this little furniture district is like encounteringsiblings at a dinner table colorfully playing off one another.
The most fun may be Motherload. Dennis Weddle, the zany,aesthetically blessed owner, also works as a production designer forfilm and fashion shoots, from which he plucks a number of his prizepieces. His cluttered shop sports green-marble tables from an oldChase Manhattan, bank, midcentury recliners, even a rack of stylishVietnamese cotton shirts in the basement. When asked what hespecializes in, he says, 'The best and the worst and nothing inbetween.'
Weddle is confident in his choices because he is part of his owntarget demographic: thirty- and fortysomethings looking to nest. Heattributes part of this impulse to Sept. 11, though he admits that heand his peers are also perhaps simply 'done waking up on the floor ofa bar.'
Nearby there are several other eccentric shops: Two Jakes, Cosmo'sCosmos, and Moon River Chattel. Next door, Two Jakes is more austereand stocked with retro office equipment. The owner continues a linethat his grandfather started, and like Weddle, he has been able toget his hands on furniture from Chase Manhattan, known in its day tohave spared no expense for quality. Cosmo's Cosmos, next in line, ismore narrowly focused on 'modern design,' including spectacularlykitschy lamps, but also elegantly designed couches, chairs, andclocks.
Around the corner at Moon River Chattel, co-owner Christine Foleysays she and her husband, Paul Sperduto, try to get their hands on'anything that's made well.' This ranges from cocktail shakers andold-fashioned toys to classic dishware and salvaged fences. In eachof these shops there's a certain degree of bohemian hauteur, theowners and items quirky and at times lovably pretentious.
Last stop on the junk shop tour is Green Village Used Clothing &Furniture, better known as Sidney's, where visitors step from ourcentury into the past. Sidney, the proprietor, is a Hasidic Jew whobanters in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Spanish, and who didn't wanthis last name published. His cavernous space is stuffed with objects,and the trick is to negotiate that space without becoming an objectyourself.
Looking for a '40s wooden hobbyhorse? Sidney has one, and justabout anything else. You bring forward whatever treasure you'vemanaged to unearth, he eyes it for a moment, then authoritativelyannounces a dollar figure. His prices are fair, so much so that someof the Wythe Avenue merchants do their shopping here. As one devotedcustomer says, 'It's the hunting that's exciting.'
Cool diners
By this point, having circled the core neighborhood ofWilliamsburg, you are as famished as many a true bohemian is everyevening. In this increasingly trendy neighborhood, there are a numberof lively restaurants you could drop into, but the three diners bestcapture the recycled-to-hip Williamsburg vibe.
Closest to Bedford Avenue is Relish, a 1952 stainless-steelrailroad car-style diner. Wrap around booths, stools, and a stream ofneon-tube lighting, all restored to a high shine, provide anothermomentary time warp. Fifties rock is bopping. The space, often usedfor movie sets, is draped with ragtag scene-sters. Dress right andthey might think you're a stealth star.
The food - as in all of the diners - snaps you back to 2002. Order a chipotle-rubbed hanger steak or fried catfish withhushpuppies. Some hopeful patrons confuse the original menu over thecounter for the real one, where a fried egg sandwich is 95 cents.Across the street is a dusty motorcycle shop where two burlymechanics and a row of bikes provide rugged authenticity.
On Kent Avenue, a block from the river, is Miss WilliamsburgDiner. If for a moment you have the addled sensation of stepping intoa Jim Jarmusch film, don't be alarmed. Yes, this very American dinerstrung with Christmas lights is staffed by Italians who speakItalian. These cool transplants are far closer to Andy Warhol thanto Little Italy. Unlike the other two diners, Miss Williamsburg isopen only at night. Chef/co-owner Massimiliano Bartoli is fromBologna, and his cuisine, emphasizing fish and pasta, mirrors thatcity's culinary panache, featuring items like red beet casoncelli(small raviolis) with artichokes and snails, and strawberry grouperwith celery in guazzetto.
A last, crucial stop for the visiting bohemian is theexistentially named Diner, tucked away on a lonesome section ofBroadway west of Bedford. Venture here in the afternoon or eveningand you'll hardly be lonely. The two youngish owners are veteranwaiters of Manhattan boites, and they've remade this 1927 dining carinto an amber-lit, low-ceil inged happening. The food ranges from astellar burger to a cast of more ambitious nightly specials. Janglyrock 'n' roll matches the spare decor. The bar is backdropped by amosaic of tiny tiles, and the waiters are lean and attractive.There's the sensation of crossing Wyoming in a rollicking railcar atnight.
One of the owners recalls stopping in one late night to find threeyoung women dancing on the bar in their underwear. Not hard toimagine, just as it's not difficult to have a quiet, romantic mealhere. After all, this is New York, where all appetites areentertained. And no easy thing it is, refitting your khakis andloading yourself onto the train for Boston.
SIDEBAR: IF YOU GO... From Manhattan, catch the L train on 14thSt. (THE STOPS ARE 8TH AVENUE, 6TH AVENUE, UNION SQUARE) AND GETOFF AT BEDFORD AVENUE. A cab from midtown will cost $10-$15.
Where to shop
Beacon's Closet
110 Bedford Ave.
718-486-0816
Monday-Friday, noon-9 p.m.,
Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Motherload
324 Wythe Ave.
718-388-6116
Wednesday-Sunday, noon-7 p.m.
Two Jakes
320 Wythe Ave.
718-782-7780
Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Cosmo's Cosmos
314 Wythe Ave.
718-302-4662
Tuesday-Sunday, noon-7 p.m.
Moon River Chattel
62 Grand St.
718-388-1121
Wednesday-Saturday, noon-7 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m.
Green Village Used Clothing & Furniture
460 Driggs Ave.
718-599-4017
Sunday 10-5:30 p.m., Monday-
Thursday, 9-5:30 p.m., Friday
9 a.m.-2 p.m., closed Saturday.
Where to eat
Relish
225 Wythe Ave.
718-963-4546
Lunch $5.50-$8; dinner entrees $7-$17. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-
midnight, Friday-Saturday,
11 a.m.-2 a.m.
Miss Williamsburg Diner
206 Kent Ave.
718-963-0802
Dinner entrees $11-$17.25. Wednesday-Sunday, 6-11 p.m.
Diner
85 Broadway
718-486-3077
Dinner entrees $11-$18. Open daily, 11 a.m.-2 a.m.
