Shuffleboard in Brooklyn’s Royal Palms
I just arrived in New York after my stay in Philly, leaving me with a few days to relax here in the big city. Of course, my version of ‘relax’ is a far cry from average.
My time living the sorority life in college afforded me a wealth of different girlfriends that reside in NY, one of the many perks. Although I’ve been able to get amazing discounts on hotels in Times Square of all places (bit of a tourist trap, by the way), I had the opportunity to stay with my gal pal Megan, fresh off a Broadway stint!
Megan and I did theatre together as far back as high school. She was supremely talented even back then, and had the drive to follow her musical theatre dream. Now it’s paying off in dividends – she served as a backup ‘Glenda the Good Witch’ in one of my favorite musicals of all time, Wicked. Lately she’s been pushing her way into television and has even made a few appearances on daytime television.
Despite her immense success, Megan always opted to live outside of the craziness of central NY, her apartment in Brooklyn’s Bushwick. I’ve done the New York experience a million times, getting to stay with her in Brooklyn is always a welcome reprieve. This time she had a ton of interesting things for us to do.
The real highlight was visiting the Royal Palms, a new bar that opened in the neighborhood that specializes in shuffleboard. Yes, you read that right – shuffleboard!
Apparently the bar was crowd funded by New Yorkers in order to purchase the space. Despite a successful Kickstarter campaign, the owners barely had enough to operate. After a little more help, the Royal Palms opened and looked like something straight out of a Wes Anderson movie.
The Brooklyn chic is alive and well here. From the lighting to the character-rich shuffleboard playing areas, Royal Palms is amazing. The attractive waitresses would come around serving us cocktails – it felt as if we were on a cruise ship despite the gloom just outside the window.
Not very surprisingly, I am just terrible at shuffleboard. You rent the space by the hour and we only had time for one block, not nearly enough time for me to master the art of … shuffling? Turns out Megan is a natural! Megan claims she has never played before but the score would suggest otherwise!
The rest of my stay in New York will be mostly dry as far as happy hour goes – I’m due back in service in just a matter of days. Might sound crazy, but I’m really looking forward to working again!
Categories: New York
