Jackie’s 5th Amendment

Five people were in the bar when Paul and I walked in around midnight. One of them was a bartender in her late 50s/early 60s who was missing a few teeth, while the other four were shitfaced, chubby, middle aged and dancing to disco music emanating from the jukebox. Neither of us had had enough drinks yet to handle this caliber of shit, so we saddled up to the bar and ordered a round of Budweisers. Apparently Jackie’s was about to close for the night, but a lifetime of serving drinks had given our sweet bartender the talent to spot those of us who had The Thirst, and she let us buy a couple rounds and answered some of my questions in her thick Brooklyn accent.

It seems that Jackie owned the bar for a long time before she passed a way a few years ago, and before that it was a bar with ties to the mob (hence the name). It was also a speakeasy back in the 1930s. Our patron saint of prolonging last call also told us that the best deal in the house was the bucket of six 7oz beers for $9 and that the peak hours here are during the day We thanked her for her kind hospitality and headed towards the door where I saw a flyer advertising a local stickball game as 'œThe Olympic Sport of Brooklyn'. Sometimes drinking with old drunks is more interesting than drinking with young ones.

Jackie’s 5th Amendment
406 5th Ave. @ 7th St.
[Park Slope]

photo from NY Magazine