Brooklyn Bar Hot Bird Will Officially Close in December

Hot Bird’s days are officially numbered. Earlier this year, it came out that the popular neighborhood bar near the borders of Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and Prospect Heights would be a casualty of the new skyscraper going in at 550 Atlantic Ave. Its last night will be December 8.

It was initially thought that the closure would be further off; in March, one bar employee telling Eater NY that it would take a “year or two.” But with the closing date now set, a manager at Hot Bird says that the bar will have a big party on Saturday, December 8. Leading up to the closure, the bar will also bring back its cozy fire pit and host a Halloween party.

Owner Frank Moe opened Hot Bird — named after a defunct barbecue joint — in 2010, converting an old auto shop space into the bustling bar. It’s main attraction is its spacious, adults-only outdoor space, flanked by high walls that sequester it from the noise and commotion of Atlantic Ave.

Popular for parties, it comes as no surprise that the bar is going out loudly with a final bash. It has a similar reputation to known hookup destination Union Pool, and in a farewell to the bar published in the New Yorker, Elizabeth Barber writes that it has served as “a fine venue for modern mating.” In other words, it was a great place for first dates. Pour one out for all the missed connections, meet-cutes, regrets and late nights this bar inspired for nearly a decade.

The new 312-foot skyscraper displacing the bar is being spearheaded by developer Hope Street Capital, and the plan includes repairs to the nearly 130-year-old Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew, which was damaged by a “suspicious” fire in 2012.