Five Brooklyn cafes with free wi-fi

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Brooklyn is full of cafés offering their patrons free wi-fi. Here are five particularly distinctive cafés with free wi-fi, strewn across Brooklyn, from neighborhoods ranging from Fort Greene (Smooch) to Ditmas Park (Vox Pop) to Red Hook (Baked).

Are you more of a Manhattan girl or a Queens boy than a Brooklynite? Don’t worry. I’ll come up with some great café picks for other NYC boroughs later this week.

Smooch. 264 Carlton Avenue, Fort Greene.

What makes Smooch so lovely? Is it the smiling antipodean barista slowly pulling your flat white? Is it bare bones interior, seen not long ago in scenes of HBO’s contemporary noir Bored to Death? Is it the creative menu or the perfect coffee drinks? Actually, it’s all of these things as well as its outdoor benches, which make for a friendly alfresco social scene.

Glass Shop. 766 Classon, Crown Heights.

Glass Shop has a fabulous, unfinished look and feel. It’s a stylish, minimalist spot that gives New York City’s other Australian cafés (Smooch above, Ruby’s, and Milk Bar) a run for their money. The espresso drinks are perfect and there are often ANZAC biscuits on offer as well. The atmosphere in the interior is sedate and studious, with most patrons bent over their laptops. There is a back garden, which is also unfinished and scrappy.

Tillie’s of Brooklyn. 248 Dekalb, Clinton Hill.

The most traditional American coffeehouse among the five, Tillie’s of Brooklyn feels like a college town café. The proximity of Pratt Institute no doubt feeds this impression. All the coffee on offer is organic, and wi-fi is free with purchase. Thursdays witness a 7:30 pm open mic event. Many of the café’s guests are here to work. Located at the corner of Dekalb and Vanderbilt, Tillie’s straddles the Clinton Hill/Fort Greene border.

Vox Pop. 1022 Cortelyou Road, Ditmas Park.

The collectively run Vox Pop (café slogan: “Books, Coffee, Democracy”) is a Brooklyn landmark, a cooperative-run cafe with over 200 owners. Vox Pop is a hell raising hotbed of political passion, often with three scheduled events a day. Sing-a-longs, movie nights, blues nights, jam sessions, and story hours fill up the calendar. Vox Pop’s late hours are another plus.

Baked. 369 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook.

Baked, Red Hook’s outstanding baked goods emporium, may have spawned a quiet industry (a cookbook, accolades from Oprah, and a Charleston, South Carolina spin-off) but it’s also a downright pleasant and poppy place to have a coffee and get to work. And don’t forget that, as unquestionably tasty as the in-house pastries may be, Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies sells its very delicious swingles (chocolate-dipped frozen key lime pies on sticks) just a few blocks away.

(Image: Flickr/Global Jet)

New shop alert: Fort Greene’s Feliz

by Alex Robertson Textor on

The sparklingly new Feliz (185 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-797-1211) is Fort Greene’s latest home furnishings shop. Fort Greene, a National Register of Historic Places-listed neighborhood in Brooklyn, is a popular neighborhood of classic brownstones, good restaurants, and strong arts facilities.

Owner Genevieve Platt opened Feliz on May 15. The shop is so new that there isn’t even a sign outside announcing the shop’s name yet. Inside, Platt has curated a comfortable collection of objects that nods gently to South America, the Middle East, and down-home Americana.

The collection is folksy and imaginative. “I call it a variety store because I’m not good at classifying things. We sell everything from fish plates to sandals,” says Platt, adding: “I’m sure the collection will evolve over time.” Her objectives are simple. She seeks to stock her shop with attractive, well-made, affordable, and functional items, avoiding knick-knackery that will just gather dust on forgotten shelves.

Some of the best items are the least expected, like the shelf of yerba maté from Argentina and Uruguay or the collective-produced Senegalese baskets from Fair Trade Federation member Swahili Imports.

Other standouts include piles of cottage industry-crafted espadrilles from Spain’s La Rioja region and vintage American kitchen and dining products. Some of the latter are quite whimsical, and include a butter mold and a tea bag holder that looks like it is part of an antique chemistry set.

Beyond these, there’s a deep collection of other highly useable objects throughout: Tocca‘s bath and body beauty line products, cards, books, contemporary jewelry by local artist Naaima Z, candles, candle holders, and incense. A few items are produced in-house, as well: some beautiful pillows (raw silk and denim) and refurbished furniture.

Platt, who has lived in the neighborhood for ten years, hopes that Feliz will be the sort of shop that everyone in the neighborhood will feel comfortable visiting. She’s off to a good start.

Yu Interiors, with its outstanding mix of vintage modernist and smart new items, is located just two blocks away. With two carefully selected home furnishings shops in close proximity, this Fort Greene microhood (what would it be called? GreLaDe?) is slowly strengthening its home furnishings credentials.

Photo of the Day (10.13.09)

by Stephen Greenwood on

Today’s photo of the day comes from contributor ultraclay! For me, this photo brings a great deal of warmth as a reminder that not all rainy days have to be gloomy. With autumn settling into full swing for many of you out there, heavier rain is coming – so try grabbing an umbrella and a friend, and head a local market or a cozy coffee shop to pass the afternoon.

The photo was taken in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York – an area known for its cultural institutions, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Music School, The Paul Robeson Theater, The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.

Do you have great travel photos you’d like to share? Add them to our Gadling group on Flickr. We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Undiscovered New York: Flea market mania

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Here at Undiscovered New York, we often find ourselves wondering why our city is so expensive. It’s usually the first question from friends and family who come to visit us here in New York, and truthfully, they’re kind of right. Want a beer? That’ll be $7 (plus tip). Headed to a Broadway show? $60 for the cheap seats. Hotel room? Unless you’re staying at the Hotel Carter, expect to pay at least $100-$200 per night.

But as New Yorkers will tell you, there’s plenty of places to get a bargain if you know where to look. That is especially true when it comes to weekend flea market hunting, the city’s unofficial hobby. Whether it’s vintage clothing or costume jewelry, antique furniture or formica countertops, rare vinyl or a delicious vanilla pastry, New York’s flea markets offer a little something for everyone. And the best part is, New York’s vibrant community of artists and independent craftmakers ensure there’s just as much new merchandise for sale at flea markets as there is old gems.

So forget about blowing your vacation savings at Saks Fifth Avenue or down in SoHo. This week, Undiscovered New York is taking you inside some of New York City’s best flea markets and telling you where to find them. Click below for our picks of the best.
Annex / Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market
For the past 15 years, one of New York’s best flea markets was along 24th and 25th street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. That all ended in 2008, when rising rents forced the market to close and move shop. Thankfully, the change has been for the best, combining the fantastic variety of Chelsea’s once thriving vendor scene with the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market on West 39th Street.

The market now combines an enormous range of items, everything from African tribal artifacts to Mid-Century Modern furniture to fine silver. It’s one of the first stops for the city’s bargain hunters and those on the lookout for a truly unique item to decorate their apartment, in New York or beyond.

Brooklyn Flea
True to the quirky and eclectic tastes of its neighborhood’s residents, the Brooklyn Flea is among the newest additions to New York’s wide array of weekend shopping markets. First opened in 2008, this smallish market is held each Saturday in the courtyard of Fort Greene’s Bishop Laughlin Memorial High School and during colder months at two smaller “pop-up” markets in DUMBO. Don’t let the size fool you though – what this market lacks in size it more than makes up in a very well curated selection of items and great food.

In addition to a great selection of vintage records, the market stocks a nice mix of interesting vendors selling home furnishings, jewelry handcrafted by local artisans and some of the best food this side of the East River. Even if you’re not the shopping type, it’s a fun place to spend a weekend afternoon chowing down on a delicious taco and checking out the crowd. If you want a unique New York souvenir, check out the vendor who sells vintage tin ceiling tiles!

The Market (Nolita)
Each weekend, a crowd of visiting trend hunters descends on Nolita, a hip neighborhood “North of Little Italy” that is home to a large number of boutiques and unique businesses. But before they browse Nolita’s sometimes pricey shops, New York City bargain-hunters head straight for The Market, a weekend market for young designers on Manhattan’s Mulberry Street. Unlike the Annex / Hell’s Kitchen market, Nolita’s The Market is all about brand new stuff. It’s also a great place to find unique one-of-a-kind items like clothing and bags you can’t find anywhere else.