In honor of you, Brew.

My third space.

It is with deep regret that I say goodbye to a place that became my bar home in less than a month. Bed-Vyne Brew, which opened in 2013, entered its prime when I was out of state for college. I came back to the city in 2020 for graduate school, but I was living up in the Bronx. Brew never crossed my radar until recently.

I saw a post about Black-owned gathering spaces in Brooklyn being targeted and shut down, and among them was Bed-Vyne Brew. I decided that for its remaining month, I would become a regular.

Over the past few weeks, I went two to three times a week. During week two, a fellow patron asked me if I worked there. On Wednesday, someone told me I looked like I was at home.

The concept of a “third space” is new to me. Our first space is home- the place where we rest our heads. Our second space is our workplace or place of study.

And third spaces? These are public spaces—coffee shops, parks, libraries, community centers, and bars—outside of home and work where people gather and connect. They are accessible, welcoming, and built for community.

I became attached quickly. Brew has a recipe that works for me. A bar with hooks to hang my bags on after running errands. A staff that made me feel seen—whether they truly remembered me or not, they knew how to make me feel welcome. A DJ spinning music every night, always slipping in some soca or reggae to oil my waist. A high concentration of beautiful, well-dressed Black people. An outdoor space where I could get some air and have a chat with a stranger-turned-love interest for the night. Uncle Waithley’s ginger beer on hand for the nights I wasn’t drinking and a yuzu gin cocktail on tap for the nights that I was. A passageway to the spot next door-Wadadli-where I could grab jerk chicken and mac pie to soak up the alcohol before it got the better of me.

 It’s hard to process the end of such a brief, intense relationship.

If Brew were closing because the owner was done with this business, perhaps this ending would hurt less. Brew is closing, however, because of targeting by the 79th precinct.

It seems the sound of Black people enjoying themselves got in the way of bedtime for the toddlers of colonizers.

To everyone who found a third space in Brew, I hope you find a new home. There will never be another like Bed-Vyne Brew on Tompkins and Putnam, but I trust the universe will provide a new space to soothe this wound. One that could carry me through my first full summer back in Brooklyn after a decade away.

After the 2024 election, I made a post about the importance of being in community with others. This space became a true highlight of that journey. After some grieving, I’ll start dating new spaces to fill this vacancy in my roster. Maybe I’ll even dream a little bigger and venture to create a space of my own. 

For now, I’m sitting with profound gratitude.

Thank you, Brew.

Stef