Bars worth the trip

Marcus DiFranco

@benchseatmarc

4Items

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Eleven stops across the boroughs I keep coming back to after a day soldering caps and chasing hum in some guy's old Marantz. Jukeboxes that still run 45s, a couple of proper listening bars with real systems, and a few dives where the only tweeter that matters is the bartender's temper. BierWax is still holding it down on Vanderbilt, playing vinyl like it's 2017 and the term listening bar hadn't been invented yet. If a bar's got a turntable in better shape than the regulars, it's on here.

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Bars worth the trip — 4 items
Name	Neighborhood	Address	City	My take
1BierWax	Prospect Heights	556 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238	Brooklyn, NY	4,000-plus records behind the bar and a DJ most nights. Owner's a real crate digger, not a prop collection. Go for the stout, stay for whatever's spinning.
2Public Records	Gowanus	233 Butler St, Brooklyn, NY 11217	Brooklyn, NY	Close enough to my bench that I pop in after a repair job. Sound system's overbuilt in the best way, electronic-leaning programming, vegan snacks if you need to soak up the natural wine.
3Sunny's	Red Hook	253 Conover St, Brooklyn, NY 11231	Brooklyn, NY	Old longshoremen's bar, now a living room for anyone who wanders in. Live music most nights, no untz-untz nonsense, and the vibe's unbothered by the gentrification around it.
4Union Hall	Park Slope	702 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11215	Brooklyn, NY	Bocce courts upstairs, a proper basement music room downstairs with a sound rig that doesn't embarrass itself. Library-den feel out front, which beats most bar seating in this zip code.