The O.G.s of Bushwick

Bushwick is cracking lately. Arancini Bros. has killer rice balls next to Wreck Room, The Morgan’s soft opening this weekend was a success, and Cafe Gia on Irving and a row of other little restaurants may make Irving St. the ideal walk in the neighborhood.

Morgantown is like a college campus. It is literally a small town, except without a mayor, although we nominate Cat Agonis, for her vast knowledge of New York, and in order to help promote her forthcoming genre-blurring novel, Chicken on the Hudson.

All these people be coming outta the woodwork and new hordes of youngsters be moving in. Just wait till summer. Hell, just wait till next year. I’m going to be an O.G. of Bushwick pretty soon. 

All these new joints in town make it seem like we never have to leave. And we don’t, really. Because our thriving arts culture is at the heart of it all. Those who know about Bushwick have the vague idea that it is semi-desirable. Boy, they have no idea.

The Poolshark

Pool is a game of precision and force. I wish I were a poolshark with a fedora who walked into bars with a pool cue in a leather strap hung over my shoulder. And I lay down a dollar in quarters on the side of the table and say "Who's got next?"

The break is important. You gotta throw your shoulder into it. Sure the rack matters, but a weak break won't sink nothin'. So when I walk into the Wreck Room, with the fugly hipsters sitting at the bar donning their biking caps with flipped brims and Chrome backpacks with scribbled-in notebooks hanging out, I hang my coat, walk to the unused pool table, and roll the two cues to see which is straighter and will shoot better.

I hold the pool cue vertically so it stands on the floor. I walk around the table when my partner makes a shot, so he can have a clear view. And after I make mine I circle the crooked green felt confidently and know which ball I'm going to shoot. The orange five ball in the corner pocket and it sure ain't a straight line. So I line up off center, ease the cue back and forth back and forth through my curled forefinger and thumb hole, and knock it...

In?