Courtesy Ray's Bar
Ray’s is opening a second location in a ‘cursed’ Brooklyn spot
The buzzy, celeb-owned Lower East Side dive is expanding to a Greenpoint space that had a recent run of flops
A celebrity-owned bar is coming to Greenpoint, and it’s going to need that star power to succeed where others have failed.
Ray’s, the buzzy Lower East Side spot that counts actor Nicholas Braun as partner, is opening a second location in Brooklyn at 905 Lorimer Street, the site that has seen its fair share of flops including the recently closed Cool World restaurant.
Few details were available, including an opening date, but Greenpointers confirmed the news about our new A-list neighbors. Brooklyn Magazine has also reached out but has yet to hear back.
“We look forward to opening our doors and serving the community with tasty food, great drinks and good times,” the bar — which is also owned by Authentic Hospitality partners Carlos Quirarte, Matt Kliegman and Matt Charles — said in a statement to Brooklyn Magazine.
The Manhattan outpost has become celebrity hotspot in the four years its been open, with Gigi Hadid, Zoe Kravitz and Antoni Porowski among the stars spotted there.
Perhaps that star power will be enough to get something to stick in that spot. Four restaurants have opened and shuttered in the McCarren Park-adjacent space since 2015, prompting speculation that the location itself might be the problem. At least, that’s what a former Cool World employee said when their restaurant closed, writing on Instagram upon its shuttering that “maybe the space really IS cursed.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that actor Justin Theroux and Golden Age Hospitality’s Jon Neidich and Taavo Somer are partners. They are not.
