Profile

This venue is closed.

Don't expect drink specials or beers on tap from the sequined bartenders at this Brooklyn bastion in business since the 1940s. At the massive deco bar that spans the length of the front room, the working-class, beer-bellied, Polish ex-pat denizens aren't looking for trendy cocktails or fancy microbrews. They're not looking for fancy digs either. The décor sticks to the basics with neon beer signs and Xmas tree lights providing dubious panache. So what are those young upstarts doing cutting straight to the back with their own stage and sound system in tow? They're here to assert a completely different scene. Kingsland's standing-room only back room sporadically schedules far-out acts and punk rock on training wheels. Whether the artistes and bands ever graduate from this seedily atmospheric space is irrelevant. This super-low-rent, low-lit rear room is about artistic gambles that don't break the bank. — Allegra Muzzillo