A Banana Over the Dance Floor, Brooklyn’s ANIMAL Lands in the Arts District
The Brooklyn queer bar took over the old Resident space on Hewitt Street, with no-cover DJ nights and a garden patio.
A giant disco banana hangs over the dance floor on Hewitt Street. It is the work of the artist Eric Schum, and it is the clearest sign that ANIMAL, the Brooklyn queer bar that opened in March 2024, has arrived in the Arts District.
ANIMAL LA soft-opened on July 25 at 428 S. Hewitt St., the space that used to be the music venue and bar Resident. Owners Ashton Correa, Jim Morrison Hevert, Nick Eskelinen and Tony Kelley kept the indoor-outdoor layout and added custom metalwork by William Patchen.
“It was exciting to open a bar in a place that doesn’t have gay bars and to be a little beacon of queerness,” Correa said.
The garden patio has its own bar and DJ booth. A draft cocktail system pours house-brewed maté, three kinds of Negroni and a frozen espresso martini, and most non-alcoholic drinks cost $10 or less.
There is no cover. Hours run 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends, with drag shows, flea markets and live music on the way.
