Description
Park Slope venue Southpaw's military-themed addition, Down South, gives new meaning to bunker mentality. It's less Patton and more Hogan's Heroes: Sandbags piled around the room and parachute netting strung across the low ceilings make this former greenroom a kitschy refuge from the crowded upstairs main space. The lounge, built entirely out of recycled materials and second-hand military packaging (check out the light-up tables made out of shipping crates), is only open for Southpaw's busiest nights, like their weekend dance parties and bigger shows. The crowd varies from thirtysomething parents who left the kids at home with a babysitter to just-over-legal girls and guys in track jackets and black framed glasses. Live video from a camera perched above the upstairs stage projects onto a cement wall framed by a steel, backlit archway, providing balcony-esque views for those taking a load off on one of the nine camouflage print couches. The copper-topped bar in the back has a full stock of top-shelf liquor and only serves beer by the can ($5), making our non-bottled Corona-drinking feel embarrassingly novel. It should be noted, however, for fans of Southpaw's parties, that dancing right next to the DJ onstage upstairs gives voyeurs downstairs ample opportunity to do some serious peeping, such as happened on a recent evening to the man who bobbed around jerkily to the Talking Heads while a couple of girls at the bar snickered. Though spaces with theme decor can be uncomfortably heavy-handed, Down South lets Southpaw-goers hide out but not miss out.
