Summer is here. Friday night, that torrential rain stopped us from seeing a Rooftop Film at the American Can Factory. Plenty more to do though this weekend! Definitely going to check out the Antibalas show at Prospect Park on Saturday, and either the Public Records brunch beforehand or the Nursery session on Sunday. The first two are free and in the neighborhood, and all of it is in this issue.

We've got a lot going on this week. Hidden Rivers opened Tuesday on Nevins. The Carroll Street Bridge reopens Monday for pedestrians and cyclists only. And we built something we've been meaning to share for a while. More on that in Quick Hits.

Now Open / Coming Soon —  A new bar named for Gowanus's buried waterways, a grocery store for Smith Street, and a sandwich shop taking space on Court Street

The Big Story — The Carroll Street Bridge reopens Monday, for pedestrians and cyclists only

Things to Do — Stretch Armstrong, Antibalas, Gay Shame, the Knicks, Juneteenth, Green City, and more

The Local — Brooklyn Social has been the right bar for this neighborhood for twenty years

Development Watch — That giant building on Atlantic Avenue, explained

Quick Hits — The eating and drinking guide is live, Manes Studio opens on Henry Street, Creator Camp at 425 Hoyt

The Bar That Remembers What Gowanus Used to Be
Hidden Rivers
291 Nevins Street
Now Open
Patrick Watson, Michele Pravda, and local dad Dhruv Mohindra know how to open a bar that a neighborhood needs. The team behind Smith & Vine in Carroll Gardens (and the much-mourned Stinky cheese shop and Jake Walk before that) opened Hidden Rivers Tuesday at 291 Nevins, named for the network of buried waterways that once ran beneath Gowanus before the 19th century covered them over. Inside, a hand-painted mural celebrates those forgotten rivers. Twelve rotating craft taps, one permanently dedicated to Guinness, plus classic cocktails and a curated wine selection from Watson, who also works as a sommelier. Out back, a full beer garden with oversized picnic tables. Food is coming soon, hot dogs and tater tots in the snack-bar spirit, but the drinks are ready now.

The Grocery Store Smith Street Has Been Waiting For
Whole Foods
182 Smith Street
Coming Soon
Whole Foods has signed a lease at 182 Smith Street, the corner storefront between Warren and Wyckoff that's been sitting empty since Rite Aid closed. The 35,000-square-foot space will be a walk-in grocery store, part of the chain's smaller-format concept. Smith Street hasn't had a proper grocery anchor in years. This one is confirmed. No opening date yet. Build-out hasn't started. But it's real…

Compton's Is Taking Space on Court Street
Compton's
240 Court Street
Coming Soon
The popular sandwich and deli concept with locations across the city is taking over the former MooBurger space at 240 Court Street. Compton's has built a serious following on the strength of creative, rotating sandwiches and a no-nonsense counter-service vibe. No opening date yet, but the Court Street corridor just got a little more interesting.

The Carroll Street Bridge has been closed since 2021. Most people who moved here in the last five years have never crossed it. Starting Monday, June 15, they can.

NYC DOT announced this week that the bridge will reopen on Monday after a five-year rehabilitation. The engineering alone is worth knowing about. Built in 1889, it's a timber-retractile bridge, one of just four remaining in the United States. Rather than swinging open or lifting like a drawbridge, it slides open diagonally, like a drawer, to allow boats through the Gowanus Canal. The small brick operator's house at the west end still stands. There's a century-old sign posted on the bridge warning that anyone driving over it faster than a walking pace faces a five-dollar fine.

The city spent five years restoring it. Now they're doing something smart with it. Going forward, the bridge is for pedestrians and cyclists only. No cars, no trucks, no through-traffic. You can get from Carroll Gardens to Park Slope today on foot or by bike over 3rd Street and Union Street. But Union is under scaffolding and construction, and neither crossing feels like anything other than getting through traffic. The Carroll Street Bridge is different. It's a quiet crossing over the water, away from the noise, with a view of the canal in both directions. A somewhat more peaceful route from one neighborhood to another.

The rezoning has brought thousands of new residents to Gowanus. The bridge reopening gives them something the neighborhood has needed since before most of them arrived. A crossing that feels like the neighborhood it connects.

Go walk it Monday. And if someone on a delivery e-bike blows past you at full speed, just know the fine is technically five dollars.

Block Party Brunch at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Sat June 13 · 11am–2:30pm · Free
Stretch Armstrong has been DJing New York since before most of your neighbors were born. Free brunch vibes in the outdoor nursery. No reason not to go.

Family Day at the Bandshell: Antibalas + KidsRead + DJ Marc Bars
Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Sat June 13 · 3–7:30pm · Free
Four and a half hours of free stuff for the whole family. DJ Marc Bars kicks it off with an interactive dance party, prizes included. Then a live bilingual reading of Katie Yamasaki's picture book with musical accompaniment from Brooklyn Conservatory of Music players. Antibalas closes it out, the Brooklyn band credited with resurrecting Afrobeat for a global audience, now in their third decade of making people dance.

Josh Sharp: An Hour of Crowd Work in the Round at The Bellhouse
149 7th Street
Sun June 14 · 3pm
Josh Sharp is funny. Crowd work means he'll be talking to strangers for an hour and somehow making it work. Sunday afternoon, which is the perfect time for this.

Gay Shame: Comedy Show & Pride Party at Littlefield
635 Sackett Street
Sun June 14 · 7:30pm
Queer stand-up, a tribute to Dirty Dancing that no one asked for but everyone will enjoy, and a dance party after. Pride month. You know what to do.

Proud, Werk! at Union Hall
702 Union Street
Sun June 14
Comedy show for Pride week hosted by Erik Martini and Jer Block. Lineup includes Gianmarco Soresi and Saidah Belo-Osagie. Union Hall has bocce upstairs if the show sells out, which it won't, but now you know.

Padma Lakshmi at The Bell House
149 7th Street
Wed June 17 · 7pm + 9:30pm
She was rescheduled from June 10. She's back. Two shows if you missed the first announcement, which was also a rescheduled date. Tickets are not cheap. Go anyway.

Lea Bertucci at Public Records
233 Butler Street
Thu June 18
Experimental composer and sound artist. If you know, you know. If you don't, the Sound Room's custom hi-fi system is probably the right place to find out.

Juneteenth at the Bandshell
Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Fri June 19 · Doors 3pm · Show 4pm · Free
Infinity Song, Victory Boyd, and Annie and the Caldwells, two sibling acts sharing a stage. Free, outdoors, Juneteenth. Doors at 3, show at 4.

Green City 2026 at Other Half
195 Centre Street
Sat June 20 · 1–4pm · Early Admission noon · Ticketed · 21+
Fifty-plus breweries in the Other Half backyard for one afternoon. This is their annual thing and it sells out. Tickets are available now, which means buy them before you forget.

Sam Campbell at The Bell House
149 7th Street
Sun June 21 · 7:30pm
Edinburgh Comedy Award winner. Taskmaster champion. Co-wrote Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. Surrealist, in the best way. Father's Day ifhttps://www.adidas.com/us… you need an excuse.

World Cup Fan Zone at Brooklyn Bridge Park
334 Furman Street
Daily through July 19 · Noon–10pm · Free
The adidas Home of Soccer opens at Brooklyn Bridge Park this weekend and runs all summer. Live match screenings, 3v3 soccer, beer garden, food trucks. Free, all summer, and worth the walk.

Brooklyn Social
335 Smith Street
Mon–Fri 5pm–2am · Sat–Sun 2pm–2am

There's a lot of conversation right now about the new drink scene coming to Gowanus. Hidden Rivers opened this week. SakeBrooklyn is building out on Degraw. Focal Point is coming to Carroll. Everyone is excited about what's arriving. Fair enough.

But before any of that, there was Brooklyn Social.

The bar opened in 2004 inside the former Society Riposto, a private Sicilian club on Smith Street that dated back to the 1920s. The guys who used to drink here weren't ordering craft cocktails. They were playing cards, sipping grappa, and keeping to themselves. Members only. Brooklyn Social opened the doors to everyone else and barely changed a thing. The photos of the original members still line the walls, black and white images of men from another era, dressed up, gathered together, looking straight into the camera, right here in this neighborhood. They're remarkable photographs. Worth stopping to look at. The antique clock still hangs above the curved deco bar, ticking away the hours until closing time. Pool table in the back. Jukebox. A patio for summer. Bartenders who know their regulars.

It has been the right bar for this neighborhood for twenty years, through every wave of new residents and new openings, without updating its vibe or chasing whatever's happening three blocks away. The new places opening around the canal are making a bet on what this neighborhood is becoming. Brooklyn Social is a reminder of what it already was.

If you've walked past the block between Smith Street and Boerum Place recently, you've noticed it. You can see it from blocks away on both Smith and Court Street, rising above the roofline like nothing else in the neighborhood. A 15-story structure has taken over the entire block at 275 Atlantic Avenue, and it's hard to miss. It's the new Brooklyn borough-based jail, built to replace the old Brooklyn Detention Complex, which has sat vacant on the same site since 2020, and is part of the city's long-running plan to close Rikers Island. The $3 billion building topped out in April and facade installation is now underway, with a spring 2029 completion target. It's a lot of building. The design does include 30,000 square feet of community space at street level on the Atlantic Avenue side, with a public plaza and separate entrances from the jail itself. What that space becomes is still to be determined.

We've been building something on the side. Our complete eating and drinking guide for Gowanus and the surrounding blocks is now live at guide.thegowanaut.com. 199 venues across 10 sections, free, no signup required. Bookmark it.

Creator Camp is running summer sessions at 425 Hoyt Street through August, teaching kids ages 5–13 filmmaking, animation, game design, and YouTube production. Spots are still open. creatorcamp.org

Manes Studio quietly opened last month at 484 Henry Street in Cobble Hill. Architect Josh Manes and interior designer Jaclyn Manes turned a brownstone space into a combined design studio and home goods shop. Small, specific, worth knowing about.

In case you haven't noticed, New York City is losing its mind right now. The Knicks are one win away from their first NBA title since 1973, leading the San Antonio Spurs 3–1 in the Finals. Watch parties at Brooklyn Bowl, Wollman Rink, on Smith Street (!!), and outside MSG have drawn thousands. Game 5 is Saturday in San Antonio. We’re hoping to hear fireworks tonight! Go Knicks.

Go have a drink at Hidden Rivers tonight. It's a good one.

And if you see something opening, closing, or changing out there, please reach out. An email, a photo from your phone, a rumor from a neighbor, all of it is useful. This newsletter gets better every time someone passes along a tip. The email is [email protected]. We read everything.

Exploring Gowanus · Every Saturday