Overview
New York on Tap listed this bar without a review.
History
Since 1885, with no plans to change
The Brooklyn Inn was a house until 1885, when Anton Zeiner, a German immigrant, converted it into a bar with backing from the Otto Huber Brewery1. When he died, his wife, Marie, expanded it, and the back room and the woodwork followed1.
During Prohibition it operated as the Exchange Cafe1. It was once caught selling alcohol and shut down for eight months, then reopened1.
The current owners, who also run The Magician on the Lower East Side and Tile Bar in the East Village, acquired it in 2007 and have kept their hands off most of it1.
Over the years the place has turned up in the film Smoke, a Spike Lee Budweiser commercial and scenes from the Batman series Gotham1. It's still at 148 Hoyt Street, at Bergen1, open every day from 3pm to 2am1. It has been on Hoyt Street since 1885 and has no plans to change1, which after 141 years sounds less like a plan than a habit.
Sources
Researched October 2026.