pencil factory

Brian Taylor moved to Greenpoint in 1998. Several of his friends owned bars in Manhattan, and he begged them to help him open one in the neighborhood. “But Greenpoint was a lot different 4 years ago, and the idea didn’t go anywhere.” It stuck in his mind, however, and finally in December 2001, Brian, Sean O’Rourke, and Louise Favier opened the Pencil Factory.

He wanted a different kind of bar than the usual type found in Greenpoint: corner brick establishment, no windows, lots of neon, and old. The Pencil Factory does sit on a corner, but the similarities end there. The two outside walls are large glass planes, allowing light to spill in across the entire room. There are no signs on the walls, no neon blinking beer advertisements, and no local art. There is an old black and white photograph opposite the door that shows the block from the 1940’s.

In fact, the bar feels much older than that. With its plaster walls and hardwood beams, the Pencil Factory reminds me of an old English pub. The furniture is all wood, ranging from second-hand tables and chairs to long benches picnic-style. There is no pool table, no jukebox, and no TV. “We didn’t want to make this into a sports bar,” said Brian. (Besides, how many times have you sat in a bar and been distracted by the TV, even if it was just Oprah?)

The building’s last incarnation was as home to the Miltonian Social Club, a local organization. As a nod to its past, a glass plane with the name emblazoned on it adorns a partition in the back. The name of the bar, however, comes from the building sitting caddy-corner from it: the old Eberhard-Faber Pencil Factory. The company left the area in 1956, and the partners liked the idea of referring to the neighborhood’s history.

The bar attracts mainly the local neighborhood, artists and writers an age bracket above the Williamsburgscene, around 28 to 40 years old. But on the weekends, several young hipsters from the south are known to venture up.

On tap are about 10 beers, including: Boddington’s, Yuengling, Guinness, Hoegaarden, New Castle, Stella, and Sierra Nevada. There are varying types of wine available, from Shiraz to Pinot Grigio, from all across the globe. They also have a wide selection of single malts available, with the most expensive at $9 for a 16-year. Happy hour is from 3-7 Monday through Friday and all beers and well drinks are $3. After 7, they jump all the way to $4.

The bar is open to 4 amevery day, and they do not close early, even if no one is there. “This is a local bar. We can’t close in case someone on the way home from somewhere else is planning on making this his last stop. We’re don’t want to disappoint,” said Brian.

They didn’t disappoint me when I came to check the Pencil Factory out. It’s one of the more comfortable places I had sat in for a long time. I couldn’t put my finger on it until about halfway through my conversation with Louise, the bartender. She said, “It’s a bar, not a scene.”

Indeed.

The Pencil Factory is located at 142 Franklin St. in Greenpoint. For the novices to the neighborhood, it is about 6 blocks north of N. 15th on Kent (which turns into Franklin).