New York on Tap 2008
Archive · modern edition Every bar New York on Tap knew, as it stood around 2008, with a 2026 check on each one. This page in the 2008 edition
Royal Oak, photographed for New York on Tap
Photo from the 2008 site

Royal Oak

594 Union Ave. · at Richardson St.
Williamsburg North Side, Brooklyn

In 2026

Closed; now Casa Publica

Checked October 16, 2026.

Show on the map Directions See the 2008 page

Overview

A cozy hipster hideaway on the corner of McCarren Park, Royal Oak convincingly integrates a dive bar and underground dance club. Large leather booths and free foosball quell the nausea of the scene; that is, twenty-something white people dressed in forty-something clothing dancing to pop music of thirty-somethings.

History

It unplugged the phone on the way out

We once called Royal Oak, on the corner of McCarren Park, a dive bar and underground dance club in one, with large leather booths and free foosball. In July 2011 it closed suddenly for reasons unexplained, disconnecting its phone and taking down its website1. An Eater listing for Casa Pública puts it at 594 Union Avenue, Royal Oak's old address2, 3.

Sources

  1. gothamist.com
  2. ny.eater.com
  3. images.nymag.com

Researched October 2026.

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