At the Rusty Knot last night at 8 p.m., two young ladies wearing faux croccodile skin pants and otherwise looking like they got lost somewhere between the Christopher Street PATH stop and the MePa, were perched on red leather barstools waiting for a storm to arrive. But not a thunderstorm over the Hudson River from which the Knot offers front row seats.
Oh, no. This time, the storm was blowing in from the east. Specifically, from Williamsburg. The Knot, in an effort to sell more tiki drinks and pretzel dogs on an otherwise quiet Tuesday, launched its first-ever Party Bus. But where to get a crowd that thinks the ideal weeknight evening begins with free cans of cheap, god-awful beer? Bedford Avenue, of course!
By 9 p.m. the double decker dropped its first load of Busch-swilling hipsters and the cozy nautical-themed bar, still decorated for Christmas, filled with beards, comically oversized eyeglasses and bright pink stockings. Andrew Kuo, DJ and overall orchestrator of the evening, took his place in the corner and began mixing Paul Simon's Graceland with Fugazi and Animal Collective in a departure from the steady stream of buttrock, metal and Sabbath tunes that ordinarly blare from the joint's jukebox.
The Knot, with its large fish tanks, lounge-style chairs, umbrella drinks and a prominent mural of beckoning, bikini-clad women, plays up the beachside bar theme, making it the perfect place for a Tuesday night vacation from the Billyburg dives, where $2 beer comes in nothing if not styrofoam cups. And while the L train may be convenient, no respectable hipster could possibly take the chance of getting lost and end up wandering around Little West 12th.
Tweeted one insightful, if not solipsistic (as another tweeter pointed out), fellow: "if you're a bar all the way on the west side, bring the party to you. Great idea." While the party apparently, is always in Williamsburg, if you want to get away, check the Rusty Knot for the next pickup.
