There is a newcomer in the bar scene of the Bushwick-Ridgewood area. However, it hasn’t made any noise. It didn’t arrive with a blast and for sure this bar is not loud. Because, at the end of the day, you don’t have to be loud to be heard. All you need is a clear message, well articulated, and a steady delivery.
The June Bar does that perfectly by providing an elegant and minimal environment where each detail is spot on for a neighborhood bar drinker. In the combination with the friendly and nice service, June Bar might be your perfect neighborhood bar.
“We just try to keep it low-key. At the bar, we try to ride that fine line between being a nice place without being pretentious, and being relaxed without being divey,” says Elizabeth Serlenga, one of the owners of the bar.
Finding it wasn’t easy. The bar is under a big 99c store sign, which tells the story of the previous tenant. Under this big sign is a small elegant sign that says June and that’s it.
The bar is known as the dollar bar, according to Danielle who was tending the bar the night that I visited. She provided great service and even though there is no cocktail list at the moment she concocted me a fine cocktail with gin, Pimms, St. Germain Eldeflower and lemon. The combination of French and English spirits provides the name “English Channel” and the night was off to a good start. I arrived with my friend that night after midnight on a weeknight and the bar was almost empty, so we thought that it would be closing soon. Alas, we never thought of the rules of a good neighborhood spot and around 1.30Am more and more people had rolled in; one of them stating to Danielle how happy they were to be there.
Beyond the friendly service and the nice drinks, the June bar is very well designed for a neighborhood bar. The front glass allows you to see the friends who are already inside.
At the bar, the stools have backs, a very crucial element of a nice chilled out night. The bar has ample space and is made out of marble, the material that me nor my friend couldn’t stop admiring.
The devil is in the details and this bar has all the details done right. The way the tables are set with nice chairs and white tables, tells the story of these details; minimal, elegant and not pretentious.
New tenants found the beautiful old pressed tin ceilings and walls under the drywalls and drop ceilings, and restored them to enhance the antique feeling that the bar has.
“We love the neighborhood, and wanted to open a place that was somewhere we would want to hang out in, but also a place for all of the other people in the neighborhood too,” said Elizabeth in our email exchange. She opened the bar along with Orion Peter and John Konstantine, two very good friends since adolescence. That deep bond between these three people pervades the bar, and we suspect it is behind the energy that what attracts the people in there.
Their soft opening echoed their intention; a New Year’s Eve party with friends that was a blast. What better way to start a new year, what better way to establish the perfect neighborhood bar.
June bar is located at 259 St. Nicholas Avenue.