Review: Brooklyn (the city, not the movie)

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February 27, 2016- by Steven E. Greer

For me, Brooklyn might as well be Australia. I have lived in New York for 20-years, and can recall going to Brooklyn just a few times (not including JFK).

Last night, I had to go to the Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Jesu and Sun Kil Moon. I thought that with the advent of Uber, I could travel easily. I was wrong. It is still difficult to go to Brooklyn.

I first tried Gett as a car service and they wanted $40 for the short trip. I then tried Lyft. They also wanted $40, so I capitulated.

When I got into the Lyft car, the driver had the wrong address in his phone GPS. To make a long story short, he was concealing the fact that he was going to make me share the ride with someone else and still charge me $40. So, I got out. He charged me the full $40, which I am trying to contest.

Finally, I got a second Gett car, this time for only $20. I knew that the previous fares were robbery.

The concert I was seeing was general admission and the gates opened at 8:00 PM. My driver was an imbecile and took the FDR to get to the Williamsburg Bridge. After wasting 15-minutes in traffic, he made an illegal turn and the cops pulled us over. So, I started to be concerned that I would be late.

I rolled up to the music hall at 7:45 PM, and few people were there. We had to stand in the cold for a long time, which is something I hate. I did not realize that the concert actually started at 10:00 PM. I have never been to a general admission concert before. It was sold out.

The concert was fine. I actually liked the venue and the close proximity to the artists.

Afterwards, I went to a nearby bar called Fabbrica, which was not bad. It has non-pretentious good menu items, and the staff were friendly. I will go back.

Also nearby is Maison Premiere. A famous restaurateur recommended it to me when I told him that I was heading to Williamsburg.

While at Fabbrica, I could tell right away that Brooklyn does have a much younger population than Manhattan.

However, all of this culture and character of Williamsburg will fade fast. Standing hideously in view of all of these nice places were many tall pencil-towers going up. Gentrification is killing the place.

In summary, I am going to try to figure out how to travel to Brooklyn more easily. I need to start trying out the clubs and food joints. If you have any suggestions, please email us.