A new gay cocktail bar in Carroll Gardens is celebrating its grand opening tonight.
Loafers, a vintage-inspired safe space, takes its name from an old insult aimed towards gay men: “light in the loafers.”
Owner Brendan Donohoe told Brooklyn Paper he was inspired by Brooklyn’s “hidden” queer history when he first moved here from Dublin five years ago. Many neighborhoods in the borough have a solid queer background, including Park Slope, historically referred to as “Dyke Slope.”
“That [history] kind of brought me to say, let’s get a gay bar that has a nod to the 1940s, that is kind of vibrant, comfortable, a little bit intimate … and a nod to a period of time before McCarthyism in the late 50s, that it kind of was a little bit more footloose and free to be queer,” Donohoe told the Brooklyn Paper.
The bar took time to curate the perfect antique, cozy vibe. At 517 Court Street, Donohoe said his team found a “beautiful” space, complete with large windows to help open up the bar.
When you enter Loafers, you can expect moody dark green walls and velvet furniture to transport you back to the ’40s. To continue celebrating the rich queer history of the borough, Donohoe worked with local historians to obtain archival photographs to hang on the walls. According to Brooklyn Paper, the black-and-white photos show gay couples on the beach, men in suits kissing, and a group of women in coveralls and hardhats.
While Loafers has a large selection of cocktails and wines, Donohoe, a partner at Ginger’s Bar and Mary’s Bar, stressed that his space is unlike other queer bars in Brooklyn.
“There’s not that many gay bars that are just intimate spaces for you to go on a first date with someone, or bring the parents of your partner,” he said. “But there’s a lot of them when it comes to the heteronormative world … we don’t have many gay spaces that are a different kind of vibrancy other than a dive bar or a club.”
Loafers will celebrate its grand opening Wednesday, October 23 at 7pm. The bar plans to be open every night, seven nights a week, at 5pm.