[brooklynleather]

Say it ain't so!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last day of business is June 27th according to a tip I received from a friend.

[Carnivore]

Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess between Weather Up, Cornelius, Washington Commons and Manhattans opening up since they started, the competition is too steep. It's too bad- I like that place and like that their kitchen is open late.

[Mamacita]

Wow, I thought they had a strong following? One of the owners is a member here
I wear barretts? or I love barretts? can't remember her screen name
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(\__/)
(=’.'=)
(”)_(”) "Gentrifire Extinguisher"

[brooklynleather]

Where is Washington Commons???? I can never find it when I walk by....

Anyway I hear they are opening up a second Pequena in the Barrette space. I love Pequena but I really really loved Barrette. Sigh.

[Carnivore]

Tell me about Pequena. I've never been there.

[Hatemail]

Its on the corner of Park and Washington. It's nice.
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"My main objective is to be professional but to kill him." - Mike Tyson

[brooklynleather]

Oh it's delicious Mexican! Across the street from Habana Outpost. Even though I like Habana's outdoor area, I find Pequena's food far superior.

[brooklynleather]

Hmmm. I used to live there but yet I can't seem to find it! Is it where that sketchy old illegal strip club used ot be?

[stacey]

Here's a visual from Brownstoner

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archiv.....09/04/streetlevel_was.php

[sweet tea]

across washington from the sketchy old strip club.
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Bumping ancient threads with bot-like bullshit

[xlizellx]

this is incredibly sad.

....sweet tea, by "old" do you mean old like it's been around a while or old like it used to be there but isn't?

[bill c]

sad news indeed. i heard a mexican restaurant was going to go into that space. the 4 corners of bars will now be a dream deferred.

[Whatchuwant]

This truly sucks. What- was business that bad? It always had people in it...whats the deal- anyone know?
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"...you can choose the rain....but I choose the sun..." - N. Costa

[jgregorie]

Holy fucking christ on a motorcycle. If Pequena is indeed going to take over the barrete spot I will do cart wheels down vanderbilt ave.

the location in fortgreen has some of the best mexican food ive ever had.

Barrete is a cool spot though.

[Carnivore]

[sir_eccles]

Too many buy backs?

[Jack Krohn]

Pequena could be counted as a default bar, I suppose. Either way, it'll do very well, especially with outdoor seating. Vanderbilt has really come into it's own. At this stage, I could have one drink in each establishment and not be able to find my way home. Now that's progress!

[raw]

[vanilla]

the bar before it also had an abrupt closing. maybe it's just one of those spots that makes business go bad........

[Jack Krohn]

What bar was there before Barrette? I thought it had been vacant.

[Underhill_MT]

My inside source tells me it is, indeed, closing and reopening as a Mexican resto.
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Be the change you want to see in the... neighborhood.

[pensodyssey]

[Hexatron]

????
this sucks. i feel guilty because i've been drinking at the new places on washington lately for the novelty of it. it's always been my favorite bar here.
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Brooklyn Music Lessons

voice, production & software lessons

[Booyah_Achieved]

No more Miller High Life tall boys?
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"I would have made a good pope." - Richard M. Nixon

[thinkdream]

this is Very upsetting.
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i'm a traitor from queens

[clintonhillbilly]

Something tells me it might be a case of being forced out by the landlord. Based on a drunken conversation with the tender Frank a few weeks ago I know they had some problems with someone in the community about the dancing. He said that's why they cut it back to two nights a week. Maybe that became a bigger issue. The Pequena people already own Moes, Maggie Browns, and Olea so maybe they saw them as a more reliable tenant. Hell I believe they OWN the buildings those places are in so maybe he bought the building outright.

I'm going on Friday and probably again on sunday when they have $1 drafts till the kegs are dead. If I find out anything I'll post about it.

I really really liked Barrette but once they cut back on the dancers the crowd had thinned a little. It definitely had nothing to do with too many buybacks. That was never their strong point, although still better than Soda.

The worst part is it was the only bar along that strip guaranteed to stay open until 4 and that served food late. Hopefully one of the other bars will pick up the late night crowd.

[clintonhillbilly]

This could be part of the reason for them closing:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewFor.....;vlcompdetlkey=0001043959

Someone filed a complaint with the DOB about it being an "adult establishment" too close to a church.

It was a year ago but it could have taken that long to be resolved and/or the drama could have carried over. Maybe the DOB should stop worrying about dancing girls and worry about doing their jobs and inspecting buildings like the one on Myrtle that just collapsed.

I also noticed that their liquor license expires at the end of August. That might have something to do with it too.

Clearly I have too much time on my hands.

[bobbybrummel]

some guy on the street told me barrette and pequena are owned by the same people. any truth to this?
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I've done a lot of lying in my time. I've lied to men who wear belts. I've lied to men who wear suspenders. But I'd never be so stupid as to lie to a man who wears both belt and suspenders.

[Karl the Druid]

[BKChickie]

[Whatchuwant]

They were burlesque- so not technically 'exotic.'
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"...you can choose the rain....but I choose the sun..." - N. Costa

[whynot_31]

...pasties and panties.

Nothing XXX rated.
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Hey you! Enlighten up.

[catwalkertexasranger]

I applaud the owner(s) of Barrette for your change in venue. Cabaret is and was great wherever but misunderstood .Thanx for the good work. Blogeez are only trying to help when they type what fun they had not knowing that the moral police are reading their every peck at the keyboard. Your decision to change formats is a good idea in my view given the spectrum of opinion of what cabaret consists of, people who drink understand.Cabaret builds community with smiles.laughs and watered down adult fun. People with a stroller and a crackberry would have killed your biz sooner or later if they thought there was a chance their kid would be forced to do a body shot off a bikini clad hottie against their will. I know it far fetched but read some of the posts out there.I am unsure what time your new kitchen will close but I hope you will take full advantage of what was a great bar and allow those of us who drink more than Patron or beer to come in and enjoy vodka or bourbon alone or with a meal. Another suggestion as if I had not gave too many, tell people why you changed and don't let them write here or anywhere else that your biz was a failure.Good luck

[bkhoosierfan]

i wish there was a place one could complain about too many churches..
and if you honestly think a bar doing burlesque brings in a questionable crowd then you need to get out more.. it is vastly different than a crowd that goes to a strip club..

get a clue

[homeowner]

[xlizellx]

maybe it would be different if a burlesque group came in -- unassociated with the bar itself, but rather just an "act" that happened to do burlesque. i know places like the bell house, sputnik, union hall, and others have burlesque acts come in 1 or 2 times a month - but because they aren't part of the bar, it's different.

[clintonhillbilly]

xlizellx-

Clearly you never went to Barrette because that's exactly what they did. Many of the same burlesque dancers who perform at the venues you mentioned also performed at Barrette. It just happened to be Barrette's main gimmick. The dancers only performed between 11p-2a give or take, and most of the time they were just go-go dancers, with almost no stripping involved and wearing as much or more than some girls at your average dance club.

Sadly, I didn't make it to the last night because I had a little too much fun the night before. So I have no idea why they closed. I'm hoping someone went and will post on here. Otherwise I'll just have to ask around. For those who went there it will be missed, for the rest of you fear not, rumor has it there's another burlesque stage opening in the neighborhood. Not sure if they're connected. Hopefully they'll know enough to stay away from whatever uptight ignorant people chased them away.

[xlizellx]

[catwalkertexasranger]

Dear X, if the spot only seats 35 or 40 you can't run a Village Voice ad because you will have bad math. 40 people happy and 300 pissed off because there is no room. The bars you wrote about will bars will put a small bump in there schedule to make sure that vice doesn't show up and take everybody away to jail if a nipple falls out on accident If you over promote it causes a different problem. Barrette just brought in a few fun people and too much word of mouth(blog) was it's undoing. Fun is coming back people are just going to be more careful who they give it to and how much. Party on. I never thought I would say this about buri girls but moderation.

[xlizellx]

good point. it was just my thought.

[Whatchuwant]

So, I spoke to some people "in the know" who said that Barrette was drawing a bad crowd. There were MANY noise complaints (so many that the city put a sign up in the window giving residents a direct phone number to call in further complaints). It wasn't what the owners wanted to put up with (drug dealers), so they decided to just change their image.
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"...you can choose the rain....but I choose the sun..." - N. Costa

[Lo Kee]

[Santa]

I think I was the last person to buy a drink before they stopped serving.

also the crowd was always a great mix of people. Which made it fun.