Union Street Jamming On A Monday Night: Dino BBQ and Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club

Last night was our CB6 EPPL committee meeting which, to my misfortune, was held at the 78th Precinct. Not the most friendly commute back to Carroll Gardens, especially as cold as it was last night.

Photo from Gothamist

On our way back we passed Dinosaur BBQ on Union Street and decided to warm up with a beer.  They did a terrific job with the space, and the place was doing a booming business.  Great beer selection as well.

Picture this, but with a lot of people in it.

Then a little further down the block the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club was holding one of its soft open nights.  That place as well was bustling.  Strange to think that on a cold Monday night there were hundreds of people out at these two venues, when a year ago they were both closed and empty spaces.

The Union Street game hall is decked out in Florida regalia, including old pendants, vintage shuffleboard pictures, and pink flamingo bathroom wallpaper. The esoteric sports arena will boast 10 courts, two bars slinging $11 cocktails named after legendary (to someone) shuffleboard players, and a rotating cast of food trucks such as the Red Hook Lobster Truck and Mexico Blvd. 

Patrons looking to play will have the option of renting a board for $40 an hour or joining a 10-week league for $450. For comparison’s sake, bowlers, who also propel circular objects down varnished wood aisles for fun, pay $45 for an hour of play at Sunset Park’s Melody Lanes or, if they are league members, $6 per game.

Both places are surprisingly large venues . . . that is, they seem bigger on the inside then from the street.  In the case of the shuffleboard club, of course, not all of the space is occupied, given the court layouts.

I guess the moral of the story is, I wish I had more free time.  We have a voucher for court time at the Royal Palms that we bought in a charity auction last summer, and I'm looking forward t using it when some of that free time materializes.