« Oh my god! The Help Can Read! | Home | Edwards is out »
January 29, 2008
Brooklyn babies cut off
Having your kids around while you drink at home is your business, but a Brooklyn bar respectfully asks its patrons to restrict their drinking buddies to people 21 or older.
Union Hall, a bar and rock club, now has a No Strollers policy, which sort of surprisingly has a lot of Park Slope moms upset. Hmm... the kind of Park Slope mom that likes to bring her infant child to bars. I can't tell if that's sort of cool, flagrantly irresponsible, or, like most things related to Park Slope, just irritating.
Let's see: Strollers clogging up a bar, babies screaming, stay-at-home Park Slope moms taking up all the couches. OK, that's settled, it's irritating.
If it were just one mom stopping off for a beer toward the end of the day, baby in backpack, I doubt there would be a problem. But as Daily News reader toastedmuffin reports, "One day I went there for Happy Hour and the place was jammed solid with strollers, we could not even get around them to sit at an empty table. Furthermore, the amount of children in there polluted the normally relaxing atmosphere with crying and clutter."
These moms don't like the restriction. Union Hall motherpatron Renee Bar-or said, "Most people were pretty upset. I understand it, but it's pretty upsetting. It's pretty empty in here," while cradling her 5-month-old son, Jonah.
"Most people"? Is this woman saying that the majority of people who go to Union Hall bar are upset about the No Strollers policy because they can't bring their children into the bar? Lady: IT'S A BAR. What world are you living in? What does she expect to see when she walks into a bar? Changing tables and sippy cups?
I should also point out that Union Hall is not actually barring children, but rather asking that patrons not take up valuable drinking space with baby strollers. You want to bring your kid to the bar, carry them in your arms, park them on a bar stool and order them a milk. Or just bring them someplace more appropriate for your moms' afternoon book club, such as anywhere in Park Slope that is not a bar.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://amysrobot.amyinnewyork.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/771
Comments
as someone who has brought my 9-month old out with me for a quiet afternoon meeting with friends over a few beers, i'd just like to say i agree with union hall's ban if there are simply too many strollers. they never said the kids can't come. to whoever agrees with the "it's a bar" comment... i'd like to say there are a lot of people who don't go out to bars to get trashed. to have a few drinks, to do it responsibly, with or without one's kids should be considered the norm... the raucous crowd, those who are competing to see who can get drunk the fastest - they should be banned from the bars. of course there are limits too... i don't feel comfortable with my son being out at night... an afternoon or early evening seems to me to be fine... 9 or 10 o'clock at night should be story-time in bed.
Posted by: dave at January 31, 2008 3:21 PM
Okay, I'm from California, Silicon Valley to be exact. People think we're weird, but taking your baby to a bar? On a regular basis? To socialize? Is "babysitter" a foreign concept to these people?
Posted by: jeanne at February 10, 2008 3:48 PM
cute. beer please??????!!!
Posted by: gabby at November 26, 2008 7:20 PM
sheis so cute
Posted by: at December 17, 2008 2:57 PM
This is a puzzling one. I think if kids are well-behaved they should be able to hang out wherever, but I can totally see why the strollers are a problem.
I went to see Neko Case this weekend. Show started at maybe 9:15 or so, and there was a Mom with a kid strapped to her back. The kid wasn't actually that badly behaved and didn't affect my enjoyment of the show (just a couple of loud squawks during quiet moments of songs, but I'm pretty tolerant). But I felt really bad for the kid. What 18 month old (best guess) want to go hang out in a really loud, really dark place with hundreds of yelling strangers? I just can't imagine this was in any way enjoyable for the cute kid.
But Union Hall is probably super fun for kids, especially if they like bocce.
Posted by: cushie at January 29, 2008 3:39 PM