A renaissance of Brooklyn social clubs.

Hey Neighbors -

Happy Saturday! Oh, summer, how I love you so. Why can’t winter feel as short as summer? Ho hum. 

If my math is right, this is post #49, which means it’s almost the first anniversary of Ward 6! We have a lot to celebrate—more details to come about the birthday party.  

Welcome new Ward 6 readers. Jack Neary of Carroll Gardens, and founder of Dad Mag, just subscribed and sent me a nice email introducing himself. Thank you, Jack! I’d love to hear from more readers ([email protected]).

You might not see Ward 6 in your inbox next week, as I’m trying to take some time off and really, truly disengage.

Post #49: What’s new restaurants are opening soon? A renaissance of BK social clubs; a Pow-Wow to remember and tons of end-of-summer reading.

Val’s in Red Hook, Smor and Light Switch in Carroll Gardens are opening soon. You can find more about Val’s here (RH Star Review) and here (The Strong Buzz); Smor’s here (CSJ).

And, finally, the iconic Sam’s Chops on Court St. re-opens in early September. Here’s what I wrote about it in April:

Look for Robert Simonson’s second scoop on Sam’s in NY Magazine soon.

Right before I launched Ward 6, a member of one of the few remaining Italian private social clubs in Carroll Gardens invited me inside. It was a dream come true. He made me one of the best espressos I’ve had outside of Italy.

Occassionally, I’ll walk by and see a crowd of people inside the club, but it’s mostly empty and like the day I visited, a little sad as membership has dwinded. I learned that a lot of the next gen families have moved away (“the neighborhood has changed”) and the original members are dying off. More stories from my two days inside for another time.

I recently learned about a renaissance in neighborhood social clubs. The only membership requirement is an interest in hanging out, in person. With no clubhouse, members meet in in various neighborhood spots. But the idea is similar to the original CG social clubs: to build community and provide a welcoming place to hang out. 

The Heights in High Places social club in BK Heights started in May, and meets for lunch once a month. It’s members are mostly 50 and older, some retired. People as far away as the UWS and Dyker Heights have joined the group

“Brooklyn Heights has a lot of transient people and younger 25- 40-year-olds,, founder Sarina Meones told me the other day, “but there is very little for people over 50. It is hard to meet older people here for friendship etc.”

The Carroll Gardens Social Club also started this spring and its WhatsApp group has grown from 35 members to more than 200. A recent online invitation for new members generated a whopping 300 responses (“interested!”) within what seemed like minutes.

A few days ago, I met the 33-year-old founder, Taylor Wishnov, for coffee in Carroll Gardens. Originally from FL, Taylor moved to Boreum Hill five years ago. She’s a nonprofit fundraiser with a side gig collecting and selling vintage clothing. 

 “NYC was calling,” she told me. Without a job or a plan, and with only $1,000, she relocated nearly a decade ago. 

She said the idea to launch the Carroll Gardens Social Club came to her during a difficult time—a bad breakup followed by the loss of her circle of friends. “I was lonely,” she told me over coffee. “I needed to take control of my life. What’s better than friends in your neighborhood?”

Taylor said she was inspired by a Greenpoint meet-up group she read about on Reddit. On her way to the airport heading for vacation, she posted about starting her own group to see if anyone else would be interested. “My phone was blowing up!”

Last night, the group got together for the third time. “It’s low-key, low pressure and low stakes.”  Taylor said it’s a mix of singles and couples ages 27-45, many of whom are new to NYC.  Taylor now has four co-hosts from the neighborhood, who have become close friends.

 “The social media era created an environment of loneliness,” says Taylor. “People feel so comfortable hiding behind their phones, especially in dating culture, and are less inclined to just go up to another person.”  

With near-daily headlines about the dangers of technology and social media, on top of droughts, fires, and AI run amok, Taylor’s story genuinely made me feel happy. Especially as a Millennial, the “first digital generation,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica

Now, Taylor says she also makes a point to go beyond just exchanging social media usernames when she meets someone at a party or elsewhere who she thinks could be a friend. 

“If I feel really good energy with someone, I’ve been more inclined to follow through on an actual one-on-one hang, usually dinner and drinks,” she told me. “In the past, it’s not something I prioritized. But it’s amazing what special people you’ll connect with if you put yourself out there. I feel almost overwhelmed with how many friends I’ve made and connected with”

The Red Hook Football Club has started its fall 2026 season with its next home game on September 5^th. The team had a phenomenal spring, advancing to the championships for the first time, but lost on penalty kicks. 

Red Hook FC’s founder, Sacha Weiss, gave me a few other updates about the team. They now sponsor the Brooklyn Hares, a youth club ibased in, Red Hook and Sunset Park. Its founder played for a Mexican soccer team, and Red Hook is where he played his first game after moving to the U.S. 24 years ago.

The team also has a few new players: three transfers, including a former Saint Francis College captain, and two returning players who played briefly for other NY teams.

If you follow Ward 6 on Instagram, you may have seen the pictures I posted from last Saturday’s Spiderwoman Theater’s 50th-anniversary Pow-Wow on Degraw S.  Other than the posters I saw in store windows along Court St. I didn’t know much more about the event than what I put in last week’s MARK YOUR CALENDAR. 

“Even my friends who live on Degraw St.were unaware of this women’s theater group, inspired by the 1970s feminist movement, which, still today, offers “theater training and education rooted in an urban Indigenous performance practice.” 

I planned to stay for 30 minutes or so, but I was so blown away, I ended up staying for two hours. I wasn’t the only one.

The mesmerizing dances, the brilliant colored costumes, the stories shared by the event’s narrator about the past and present, the joy–ours and theirs-in pulling off the first Pow-Pow of its kind in, and the meditative music. 

Politics didn’t come up much except a former Degraw St. resident (“I'm Lenape, baby, I’m your landlord!), who also told the crowd how the Lenape first introduced tomatoes and potatoes to the Dutch when they first arrived.

And there was plenty of humor. The award-winning director, writer, and playwright Murielle Borst Tarrant performed part of her hilarious one-woman show Tipi Tales from the Stoop about growing up in the 1970s as the only Native American family in the predominantly Italian/Puerto Rican Red Hook, now Carroll Gardens. Her family migrated to Brooklyn in the 1800s.

I loved her description of how the neighborhood moms called their children inside for dinner. It was like an “opera,” she said, “as the first window went up, Angelina!, then the second window, Billy!, the third and on and on, from house to house.” 

She joked about how “organized” the neighborhood used to be and dads who said they were taking a trip to Florida but who were really going to prison. 

Tarrant is the Founder and Artistic Director of Safe Harbor NYC, “an Indigenous-led arts initiative dedicated to the development and production of Native theater and performing arts in New York City.” 

“I would like everyone to understand that there is a living, breathing, thriving native community here in New York City that has never left. And we’ve always been here and we have survived,” Tarrant told the NYPost last year.

Is Gentle Parenting Ruining French Children? (The Daily). From the country whose longtime parenting culture mostly centered on us, the parents. This will resonate here in BK for sure, for so many reasons. 

From award-winning journalist and best-selling author, Peg Tyre: “If you let your Kids use IG, they’re gonna be dumb AF.” With a headline like this, I couldn’t pass it up. Also ties to the Oakland trial currently going on about META. 

From HellGate: “NYC Council Finally Catches up to Real Cities with Year-Round Outdoor Dining”

Red Hook Affordable Housing Has $777 Studios (Brownstoner). How rare to read about 100% affordable, supportive, and senior family housing. My big question, though, is: how will these new residents leave the area, which is a transportation desert? This was fast-tracked under Mayor Adams, and one of the development partners is Express Builders 🤔.  

Today!  4:00 PM - 8:00 PM | Brooklyn250 comes to Red Hook. Learn about the Battle of Brooklyn and how Black and Native American militia stationed at Fort Defiance in Red Hook helped General George Washington defend against the British. See real cannonballs found in Red Hook, talk to re-anactors, in costume, enjoy a sunset discussion. Events for the whole family. Friends of Fort Defiance, PortSide New York and more from Ward 6. 

Today! 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Buzzy Dispensary invites you to a community clean-up on Court St. | 137 Court St (Atlantic),  merch included. RSVP: @visitbuzzy

Wednesday, September 2nd - 6th, Rockaway Film Festival (HellGate) - inexpensive tickets!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week. JLH