Van Gogh's Radio Lounge
147 Franklin St., Brooklyn, NY 11222
between India and Java Sts.
PHONE: 718.701.4004
HOURS: Daily, 4pm-4am
CARDS: American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
HAPPY HOUR: Van Gogh's Amber, $3, all times
MAP: Click Here
SUBWAY: G to Greenpoint Ave.
CITY SEARCH SAYS: This dive bar, named after the departed painter and the owner's now-defunct rock band, is the sort of place where $2 cans of PBR are the drink du jour and the day's sports game flickers on a projector screen. Metal tables decorated with sunflowers line the exposed brick wall, while Polaroids of regulars--a crowd of hipsters and local Joes--dot the opposite orange wall. Anything goes at Wednesday's open mic and on the weekends' live music stage.
If Van Gogh's Radio sounds more like a band than a bar, that's because it was. When owner Tony Petillo's rock 'n roll fantasy faded a few years ago, he and his two siblings kept the band name alive by opening up a bar in their native Greenpoint neighborhood to serve all those other people for whom the Bowery's--and, later, Bedford Avenue's--siren song of bohemian utopia rang a little bit tinny. Although ubiquitous sunflowers and pumpkin-colored walls give a nod to the mad Dutch post-Impressionist, the giant game of professional poker or The Simpsons usually being projected on the back wall dispels any hint at painterly pretention. Regular guys, low-key recent arrivals and the occasional poet keep it real with cheap drinks, video games, and a jukebox stocked by a man with confident taste in music. The Pearl Jam here is not ironic. Why should it be? The only thing masquerading here is the house beer, Van Gogh's Ale, a very reasonably priced amber ale known outside the bar as Michelob Red. Open mic night every Wednesday at 9pm.
