Production Lounge Brings Taste of Planet Hollywood to Greenpoint

Sure, Greenpoint's newest bar/lounge is an easy target; one glance at the velvet ropes, the movie tchotchkes on the walls, the furniture salvaged from some foreclosed New Jersey McMansion, and one is all too tempted to prophesy the beginning of the end for this charming little stretch of Franklin Street. But after talking with the enthusiastic, well-meaning owner Joe Ariola during the opening weekend, it's hard to be too critical. Also, one gets the feeling he's connected.

Ariola says The Production Lounge occupies a space previously occupied by the Eberhard Faber factory, where No. 2 pencils were made until the '50s. (Hence the "Pencil Factory" bar kitty corner across Franklin.) He envisions his place becoming a go-to spot for wrap parties, movie screenings and industry Q&As. And with Lipstick Jungle shooting so much in Greenpoint, who knows, it just might work. He's got an Avid editing system in the back and is set up to stream video from events on the website.

In the meantime, he's working on luring customers with talent shows and open mic comedy nights. The kitchen will start working this week, offering standard bar food, sandwiches and pizza. While it's hard to imagine the hipsters who crowd the neighboring Lost & Found feeling at home on these plush couches, maybe he'll end up attracting a different clientele that's typically seen frequenting the nearby nightspots. To be sure, much rests on the blessing of Miss Heather at New York Shitty, who previously brought Studio B to its knees.

UPDATE! Miss Heather is NOT impressed. She sends us her verdict: "Whoever started this place clearly did not do his research. The last time I walked by there they had velvet ropes and what appeared to be two bouncers. I found this rather amusing as there was nobody around to "bounce." I give this place six months. Max."

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By John Del Signore in Food on October 23, 2008 12:43 PM

Comments [rss]

Bobby718Johnson

I live in the area and was born and raised in Brooklyn! I visited the establishment on Saturday and had a great time! I must say there is a lot of style and class there as well as some very nice people! Diversity shouldn't scare anyone! This is Brooklyn people! Style shouldn't be just plaid shirts tight vintage jeans and boots! I must say there are some young very wealthy music ceo's that vist this lounge and they are not afraid to show it! So could we all get along!

Scott Roc

As someone who works in the film business, and in Greenpoint no less, blowing off steam after a 14 hour day at a place styled around the film industry sounds horrible. Give me Lost and Found any day.

w0wzers

UPDATE: I don't care what Ms. Heather thinks. Because she is greenpoint or something.

w0wzers

d

bagelman

this is a totally perfect place to be ironic in.

NannyState

No style, no class, no customers. Pathetic.

weatherman2012

I don't believe that the local blue collar crowd shouldn't have a place to go, but the production lounge just looks like a douchebag palace. Even the sports bar Red Star, which attracts a similiar crowd, fits into it's surroundings without looking like a giant flat panel tv ass pimple! Honestly, The Production Lounge looks like it belongs in Grand Theft Auto, not Greenpoint.

pontiac

hey matukonyc -- are you referring to post #1?

if so, i think you got his description wrong. my guess is that he's actually a guy who's lived in greenpoint since well before it was hip to do so, who's has never stood in line at enids for brunch, never been thrown out of a bar in the neighborhood, and does not own one single ironic tshirt. my guess is that he's just your average guy who knows TACKY when he sees it.

i live around the corner (and i also do not adhere to your description of elitism and snobbery) and when i walked by the other night, TPL reeked of obnoxiousness. it's flashing animated sign and marquee are visual pollution in my neighborhood. it's not snobbery, it's taste. (I have nothing against talent shows -- but this bar is a downright ugly addition to the street).

virgil

Don't think that the influx of hipsters in GP means that the blue collar club-going Irish/Polish population has suddenly disappeared. There are plenty of folks in the neighborhood that would patronize this kind of place. It's not for me, but it's got just as much right to be there as any of my favorite places.

JacqueMehoff

are those the bouncers or are they customers?

either way, no thank you.

but I can see it getting rented out for private corp parties.

Dirk

That is one shitty website they have. It's bordering on spoof territory.

matukonyc

The same idiots who gladly stand on line for brunch at Enid's wearing fake-old band t-shirts and flip-flops and are outraged when they get drunk and kicked out of a bar prove their true elitism and snobbery here. Some people like talent shows, you know.

Papercutninja

is it wrong that as a full grown adult, i'm giggling at the fact that his name is Ariola(sp)?

smitty

yeah, boo to independent business owners!

sheesh.

spnder

Ugh. If Miss Heather brought the hammer down on this place I'd agree with her for once.

rbeshenk

Studio B was reopened. It is not on its knees. There's a CMJ party there Saturday, and another party Friday night. Did she cause a well-meaning bar owner a lot of grief, time and money? Yes. Did she bring them to their knees? Not quite.

weatherman2012

That place is represents all that is wrong...with everything! If someone tried to devise the worst possible bar to add to a neighborhood with a growing night life, I don't think they could have done better than this place.

Have you seen the website? Fashion model shoots? The casting couch? The site looks like it's spoofing something! There is a blog entry that says "Where are the true Artist?". Obviously not the web designers who built the site.

It's as though someone came up with the idea for a reality show where young starlets from NJ have to compete to show who's the sluttiest...and then they made it into a bar.

I think the place might have materialized out of a dimensional wormhole from a place where the Sopranos was real.