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High Spirits SpecialB a r h o p p i n g in B r o o k ly n : A B a e d e k e rBY GARY STERNAsk a Brooklynite to name his favorite bar, and most often he responds with Maxwell%u2019s Plum, Friday%u2019s, The Lion%u2019s Head, Marvin Gardens, or Gleason%u2019s, all Manhattan bars. For a moment one would think Brooklyn was devoid of bars, as dry a place as Salt Lake City.Like John Travolta, who in %u201c Saturday Night Fever\the Brooklyn Bridge to pursue happiness in fun-filled Manhattan, many Brooklynites follow his lead.Bars, of course, are alive and well and serving liquor in Brooklyn.Some bars like Minsky%u2019s on Remsen St. and Minsky%u2019s on 7th Ave. and Two Steps Down on DeKalb have a coterie of regulars who frequent their bar. Others like the River Cafe survive on their reputation, atmosphere and a changing. glittering clientele.Bars in Brooklyn like bars elsewhere are meeting places. If a man wanted to drink alone, he would bring a six pack home and pour. But bars are gathering places, social watering holes to relax, to let go after a day of responsibility and deadlines.It is no wonder that bars have often been the province of American drama, the most social of literary forms. O%u2019Neill%u2019s %u201c The Iceman Cometh,\Time of Your Life,%u201d Gordone%u2019s %u201c No Place To Be Somebody,%u201d and Patrick%u2019s %u201c Kennedy%u2019s Children%u201d are all set in bars, where people congregate, clash and always chat. WHAT MAKES THEM POPULARWhy does a bar become popular? Its location helps. Mincky%u2019s on Court St. is no place to avoid a subpoena. The bartender helps. Ray of Capulet%u2019s has been known to give a free drink to a man who has lost his woman, and Nick of Two Steps Down always has a shoulder to lean on. The atmosphere helps. Charlie's on Flatbush Ave. gives one a sense of days gone by in Brooklyn. Ultimately the success of a bar is a mystery, defying rhyme, reason and the price of beer.One new phenomenon occurring in Brooklyn bars is that they are becoming public living rooms where men, and occasionally women too, gather to watch sporting events on television from the Ranger or Knick games to the World Series, to a heavyweight boxing match. They watch silently, talk during commercials, and then when the game is over, look to see if women are around. The following list is not comprehensive, but a sampling of popular Brooklyn bars.River CafeNo bar in Brooklyn compares in romantic atmosphere to the RiverCafe. Like the impressionistic colors of a Monet painting, the colors of the Manhattan skyline turn from grey to blue to charcoal as you sit on a barstool, io> king out the River Cafe%u2019s magical and clear plate-glass windows. Most bars in elegant restaurants are hidden away, but here bar -lands prominently, near tlw aiding the city, \>the flowers atop the oaf icnt tiiis natuiai mood.Walk directly to the bar, do not stop at the m aitre%u2019d, order aBudweiser, Miller Light or glass of wine (costing $2.50 or $3), and no one will bother you for hours. The decor of the River Cafe simulates a ship, replete with portholes, and outdoor patio, and fittingly, tugboats and ferryboats continually travel by in the East River. The clientele look like young Jay Gatsby%u2019s showing their Daisy's what the good life is, but no formal dress code exists. The River Cafe is a wondrous place to bring a date and to marvel at New York City.RIVER CAFE, 1 Water St. atFulton Ferry , 522-5200.C a p u le t%u2019sCapulet%u2019s is the the quintessential neighborhood bar of Brooklyn Heights. On Friday night the bar is crowded; some men wear jackets and ties while others wear gym shorts, having played squash at a nearby athletic club.The bartender explains that %u201c Brooklyn Heights is filled with jocks.%u201d It is also filled with women, many of whom congregate at the bar as well. On Tuesday nights a darts team, part of a league, takes over one section of the bar. Capulet%u2019s trophy cases proudly include a first-place medallion from this summer%u2019s basketball league for local teenagers. Wooden beams and Tudor architecture give the bar an old English look and dimmed yellow' lights create a melancholy mood.In the summer and fall, weather permitting, six outdoor tables give bargoers an option of inside or outdoors. Capulet%u2019s is the kind of bar where on an afternoon you can come in and talk about the latest Altman film with the bartender or fellow' barmates and know that sooner or later you could be a regular at this local bar. Chamber music at brunch on Sunday mornings and folksinging on Friday nights are specialties.CAPULET%u2019S ON MONTAGUE,151 Montague St., 625-9775.W aterfront BarAt midnight a number of white outfits enter the Waterfront bar.No, it is not the clean-up crew to sweep the bar, but the nurses and doctors from Long Island College Hospital or Cobble Hill Nursing Home, who are getting off from the midnight shift, and who work around the corner from the Waterfront, open until 4a.m. Not everyone who enters this bar is involved in medicine, of course.This bar with its outdoor garden, its brick wall, its blue stained glass windows of two women, and its white overhanging lighting fixtures, creates a warm and intimate atmosphere. At the Waterfront one weekday night a man sat at the bar reading Isaac Asimov%u2019s %u201c Foundation Trilogy,%u201d while a nurse told a doctor that %u201c I%u2019m a very sensitive person,%u201d and the waitress Rog talked of her future plans as a graphic designer. The jukebox plays Sinatra and Joni Mitchell, the doctors talk of their day, and everyone seems at home.WATERFRONT BAR ANDRESTAURANT, 136 AtlanticAve., 834-1951.C h arlie%u2019s RestaurantBecause Charlie%u2019s evokes the%u00ab .1 r \\ i z-%u2019 %u2022 i i. >j i m ~ w i s m y n i d i u u k c , v j h a n uC am p y of the old Brooklyn Dodgers around to celebrate th'-irPage 10, The PHOENIX, November i ^A scene at the bar inside Park Slope%u2019s Charlie%u2019s Restaurant(Andy Feldman Photo)victories on Flatbust Avenue, not far from the site of the old Ebbets Field. The Dodgers are gone, and Michele%u2019s the very popular restaurant on this site has faded, but Charlie%u2019s is prospering.The atmosphere here is old world, not modern neon. Overhanging fans, chandeliers, antique mirrors, and classical oil paintings contribute to this genteel atmosphere. Numa Woods at his piano from Wednesday to Saturday plays mostly 1930%u2019s and 40%u2019s songs like %u201c As Times Goes By,%u201d and %u201c I Get a Kick Out of You.%u201d The restaurant is crowded, the crowd itself a bit older, but so far a barstool exists for anyone who wants it at Charlies%u2019s.CHARLIE%u2019S RESTAURANT, 348Flatbush Ave., 857-4585.M insky%u2019sMinsky%u2019s, the second bar opened by that name, though located on Remsen St. might better be called Court Street. From Court Street office workers come by for an after work drink, lawyers stroll in after doing research late at night or trying a case, and bank workers drift in having counted the daily receipts. St. Francis%u2019 students roam in from their across the street college as well.Two Tiffany lamps overhang the bar, green plastic lights illuminate the remainder of the bar, and a brown ceiling gives a dark atmosphere iu ilie bar. One iitem interviewed at the bar felt that most men in their jackets and tics werelawyers, indicated by their %u201c deliberateness of manners.%u201d In the back there are ten tables for dinner.Tliis bar has several activities occurring at once from a jukebox blasting, to a television projecting its image, to an electronic game buzzing. Minsky%u2019s is an afterwork bar and is the only bar mentioned in this article that is closed on Saturday and Sundays.MINSKY%u2019S, 163 Remsen St.,643-1444.Two Steps DownTwo Steps Down, having expanded from its initial underground bar and restaurant, is now thirteen stairs up as well. Despite its misnomer, this bar can compete with Manhattan bars any night. It is a bar where a man in a dashiki sits next to a man in blue athletic shorts who is adjoining a dapperly dressed man in a conservative black suit and white shirt. The brick wall behind the bar, and tilted mirror to the left of the bar, lend a charm and warmth to Two Steps Down. A small balcony with two tables overlooks the crowded and noisy DeKalb Ave. below it.The downstairs area (nine steps down) is romantic with its candlelit tables, set for dinner. The bar has a jaunty, electric atmosphere in which people snap their fingers at the bar to the beat of the jukebox. Other people laugh; some talk%u25a0%u00bb ^ t . : - n . , I J U I U I ) . U I U 1 i a u u u u u g u o , uresident of Fort Greene, who teaches physical education atQueensborough Community College, says that %u201c It%u2019s the kind of place where people in the neighborhood can feel free and relaxed and not feel harrassed. It%u2019s almost like a private club,%u201d she feels, %u201c because of the family atmosphere.%u201d In late October an enclosed patio in the back will be ready that will expand the dining area. Two Steps Down is a lively, upbeat bar.TWO STEPS DOWN, 240 DeKalb Ave., 789-9329.Amity/Court CafeAfter owning Dem Bums for over a year, Jo Anne Rubin decided to make some changes. Dem Bums (the former nickname of the Dodgers proving once again that the Dodgers are dead in Brooklyn) closed for a weekend, and opened anew with track lights and a room divider taken away. Rubin wants to make the Amity/Court Cafe into a Village bar with %u201c more of a relaxed club atmosphere where everyone feels confortable.%u201dTo achieve that end, Rubin is instituting a happy hour from 4:30-6:30 where bar brand drinks will cost a dollar. The kitchen too will be reopening soon. On weekends live music takes central stage with groups such as Steve Kroo that combine salsa, jazz and rock. Presently, the bar looks like a an apartment just moved into. The clock doesn%u2019t work, the mens%u2019 room has no designation, the color television stands off to the side of the bar. Yet, the bar is crowded, filled with residents of bordering neighborhoods like Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. The people are spirited, the atmosphere friendly. Amity/Court Cafe, if it encourages its relaxed atmosphere and friendly ways, may become popular with local residents.AMITY/COURT CAFE, 160Court St., 624-3800.Hanley%u2019s TavernThink of all the things that you can buy with a quarter. There%u2019s the New York Times, a pack of gum, and ugm, ugh, a glass of beer at Hanley%u2019s. Twenty-five cents, one quarter, two bits, buys a glass of Rheingold tap beer, filled to the top and bubbling. And for a dollar, four quarters, Hanley%u2019s sells beer to go; twelve inches of thick, creamy Rheingold brew in a twelve inch paper container.The atmosphere is plain and working class: two Tiffany lamps, plenty of American flags, photographs of John F. Kennedy and Gil Hodges. The only concession to modernization is the big, twentysix inch color television that stares down at the bar, showing baseball games and other sporting events. No women were seen at the bar, making Hanley%u2019s the McSorley%u2019s of Court St. William Reel in the Daily News writes a column called %u201c Reel People%u201d condemning the phonies of Elaine%u2019s and upgrading the common man, the hard-working guy, the real people. Reel could interview at Hanley%u2019s any night, and p.;y a quarter for a glass of Rheingold to boot.HANLEY%u2019S TAVERN, 499 CourtSt., 6 %u20195-8321.M insky%u2019s.............. ............ -%u00ab '\\r %u2014 A *%u00bb ' ' U M V U I W J U V U ' u u u u v U iMins; y%u2019s on 7th Ave. u won%u2019t beContinued on fallowing page