Sunny's Bar New York

Red Hook dive/longshoremen's bar

Geoffrey from New York

""Sunny's Bar" out in New York's Red Hook. It's a real dive bar, also referred to as a saloon, with hot bands and cheap beer. It sure attracts a crowd!"

My friend Jane drove us in her PT Cruiser out to Red Hook, to Sunny's, to hear the rising band 79.5 (named after a Brooklyn FM radio station frequency). She's a big fan, and a few weeks later they played in her loft for us, and to a fascinating crowd of kids from Brooklyn, Queens and elsewhere. A few weeks after that, I read about the band in the New York Times, and now that they've played the Bowery Ballroom, it's likely everyone has heard of them.

Well, the kind of foresight it takes to spot and hire bands with their talent is, I guess, something someone at Sunny's has. Promoting good bands and cheap beer attracts a money spending crowd.

Sunny's is way out there in Red Hook which means that if you don't use a car service, you'll have to get off the subway at its highest point --- 90 feet, the Smith/9th Street station --- then walk for 20 minutes alongside the 'Toxic Ball Fields' of Brooklyn toward the East River. But you'll get a good return on your time and energy, because they close at 04:00 on the key nights (Wed, Thu, Fri).

It's neither insulting nor promotive to label it a dive bar; it's also referred to as a saloon, and it has the predictable fare, but it's 'hot' and it's in Redhook, which is also 'hot', so there's that.

Even the NYTimes wrote about it.

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New York Spotter Geoffrey

About me I travel to discover how people elsewhere live, how they manage living with low incomes in expensive cities, how they grapple with hard times and failing economies, how they deal with ageing or crumbling families and how they themselves age and adapt. Knowing and loving New York comes from having lived through many of its manifestations while witnessing its changes. Why New York I love New York because of its broad cultural spectrum realized in all forms of the arts, food, technology, politics and transportation, and its easy access to the beautif...

About this spot

Conover Street 253

Bottled beer:

US$

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Oct 4, 2025

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