One of the last "real" bars in Billyburg, has quite a history. 

During Williamsburg’s industrial era the building was a Paint Factory through the 1920’s.  Paint Point Products abandoned the building in 1955 when it went through changes and identities.  Most people remember the building as being the site for an old biker’s club in the 80’s.  After the bikers took off in the 90’s the building was known as a speakeasy club and afterhours party spot. When we finally got to it there were remnants of a 13pc Cuban Big Band and a jacuzzi tucked away in the corner.  The old timers who come in to see the changes all have a sly smile on their face when we ask them to recount the good old days and explain the jacuzzi.

So we took over the space in 2004 and started to redecorate with a bit of everything from the era.  We are not a theme bar and take pride in that fact.  Our cowboy bar shelves are taken from an old bar out in Buffalo, NY.  We brought it out here to refurbish the wood and fix up the lighting.  The bar and all of its flooring is made from beams taken from other sites near Smith St where they gave the wood up to modernize their spaces.  We, personally, enjoy the recycled look.  Our bicycle hanging in the back was found dilapidated in the basement but we could not let it go to waste.  All the exposed brick and beams are original.  If you like pool give our pool table a shot.

 You may notice it is not quite perfect but that’s because we bought it from an Irish woman down the street who we have not seen sober yet.  CHEERS to her and Thank You!  Our fooseball table was contracted for us by a group of fine Polish gentlemen and we dare not ask how they got ahold of it.

If you get to us when its warm out you’ll get to enjoy our true pride and joy, our 1000 sq ft patio.  Featuring, a real barrel drum BBQ pit (thank you Roy and Jorge) where we have BYOBBQ (Bring your own BBQ).  If your not so into BBQ come for one of our food fests.  So far we’ve had pig, mussels and a personal favorite…crawfish. You can look out onto S6th street or be watched by foot traffic from the Williamsburg Bridge.  When the gates are open you can check out the real NY street life since S6th is used regularly by TV and film crews to shoot the “real” gritty NY street corner. Just this summer alone we had Law & Order, Third Watch and Taxi with Queen Latifah.

The locals appreciate that we are not a typical "Northside" bar, but we always have some function coming up and offer ourselves as a venue to people who have interesting events and ideas.  We always have DJ’s around, we’ve had wedding receptions, we’ve done dance parties, we’ve thrown a speakeasy ball and we have movie nights.  If you want to know what else is going on in the near future check out our events page.  If you have some ideas of your own please contact us.  We are always open to new ideas.  Check out the rest of our site to get a bigger picture of what we’re about.

East River Bar 718-302-0511 /  Contact Web Designer