Red Lantern Bicycles is part of a series of tidbits from the chapters of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, published by Rizzoli. You can order it online at Powell’s, Amazon, Rizzoli, and Barnes & Noble. Signed prints of the bars in the book are available here.
[The sad thing about this post is that Red Lantern Bicycles — a wonderful little shop in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene — is closed now. Read my description of the place below and tell me that the loss of a place like Red Lantern isn’t a damn shame.]
On a beautiful summer day in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I had grand ambitions to bike on up to Greenpoint, about as far north as you can go in this borough before hitting Queens. La Wiferina and I stopped for lunch first, and after the meal, I found my tire was flat. Bummer. The good news? Red Lantern Bicycles was just a few blocks north.
I rolled my bike past the folks eating brunch at the tables in front, past the bar on the right, and all the way to the bike shop in back, where I explained my situation to Sam Littlefield, the big, bearded dude working the counter. He said he’d fix it on the spot and suggested we wait at the bar and have a coffee, beer or a snack while we waited.
Which we did. All was delicious and friendly. Meanwhile, Sam not only fixed the flat, he did it without my special wheel key, the kind you need so that no one can remove your wheels except you. Sam, a MacGyver of bike mechanics, figured out a way to get the job done fast, without the security key, and we were good to go.
Red Lantern Bicycles is three important things to this vibrant Brooklyn neighborhood: coffee shop, bar, and bike shop. Three perfectly complementary elements in owner Brian Gluck’s vision. “They all go together,” he explains, “Like you see in the old black-and-white pictures of bikers in the Pyrenees, downing a beer during a ride, or an espresso before.” He’s right; it works, and he says when he opened in 2011, Red Lantern was the first bike shop/café on the East Coast. A stream of people pass through, some—from serious athletes to commuters to weekend cruisers—rolling bikes to the back, others grabbing a cup of house-roasted coffee to go, some parking it at the bar for a cold beer and a bite.
When I told him about my fixed flat and the above-and-beyond service, Gluck wasn’t surprised. “That sounds like Sam,” he said. “Our mechanics are open, friendly, and accessible. They come around the counter to help you.” Some bike shops can feel aloof. Not this one, and that tone is set by the man at the top. Gluck is a community mensch, a real good guy, and his shop is loaded with heart.=
Gluck loves Fort Greene and Fort Greene loves him and Red Lantern right back. Jerry Pura, a sociologist who lives nearby, confided, “Although he’d never tell you this, Brian helps neighborhood kids with no money fix their bikes, patch their tires and stuff.” He also helps with various community events and fundraisers. Gluck says, “If you have a bike-related event or a ride-based fundraiser you want to hold here, we’ll say yes 99 per cent of the time.”
Red Lantern Bicycles is a community hub in Fort Greene, a place where all kinds of people cross paths and rub elbows, like they do on the subway. And that’s healthy in a changing neighborhood as diverse and this one, this casual interaction with The Other. It cultivates a chill, easy familiarity between neighbors, and breaks down the walls of class, age, and race. You’ll see all types at Red Lantern: young, old, black, white, hip, square, overworked, underemployed. Families, singles, couples, and friends. Everyone’s there for bikes, beer, food, and coffee. It’s a big tent, this place, and everyone’s welcome.
Next up:
Radegast Hall and Biergarten, the splendor of great beerhall Gemütlichkeit and another chapter of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, which you can order right here. Limited-edition signed prints of the bars are available here.