Union Pool Bar / Live Music Venue

WILLIAMSBURG, NEW YORK –

The quintessential Williamsburg live music venue, Union Pool has spent a decade showcasing New York’s best local musicians performing everything from synth-pop to grindcore.

Usually filled with wizened hipsters and tattooed punk rock girls, this aqua green former pool supply shop features a bar with a glass-paneled wooden fridge covered with candles, toys, and skulls, as well as a few green leather couches where neighborhood pre-gamers and the night’s musicians gather to throw back Tecate.

A simple patio decked out in Christmas lights and wooden benches offers fresh air, a view of the BQE, and a central stone pit used as a pond in the summer and a fireplace in the winter.

Here aged rockers smoke by the double doors between the bar and the stage, while relaxed groups of local scenesters lounge around enjoying sinful Mexican food from the skeleton-covered El Diablo taco truck parked out back.

Once the doors open, the crowds pile into the dimly-lit theater, where bands rumble the paneled walls from a small red-curtained stage. Drunken excitement builds as the night wears on, and by the time the headliner takes the stage, the patrons have turned into a packed mass of sweaty foot stompers and headbangers.

A cool mix of hot music and lowbrow coziness, Union Pool remains the standard for young musicians looking to play Brooklyn and hardcore fans looking for an unforgettable night.