Kensington’s Brooklyn Banya Named One Of The Best Indoor Activities In NYC
When it seems like the world is one unending sheet of cold rain, where do you go when you just can’t spend another afternoon holed up in your apartment?
If your answer is Brooklyn Banya (602 Coney Island Avenue between Beverley Road and Avenue C), you may want to hurry up and go before the word spreads even more about the Russian-Turkish bathhouse. Gothamist just published a list of “the 8 best indoor activities in NYC that aren’t sex,” and the website named Brooklyn Banya as one of those top non-carnal spots.
Russian winters are notoriously miserable, and best survived by imbibing copious amounts of vodka. But all those toxins build up over the season, and many turn to steam rooms—or shvitzes, as my great-grandparents would probably say—to sweat out all the Stoli.
Luckily, for us New Yorkers who like to curl up around the vodka bottle as much as our Russian brethren, we have plenty of places to go to sweat out the toxins, and Gothamist lauds our area’s Brooklyn Banya and the East Village’s Russian & Turkish Baths (which dates back to 1892) as popular shvitz spots.
Describing Brooklyn Banya, Gothamist writes:
If you prefer to pair your detox with a fifth of Fireball, Brooklyn Banya in Kensington permits you to bring your own booze (liquor only; they serve beer and wine), which you can enjoy in the facility’s central hangout area near the hot tubs. A day pass there also runs $35—just make sure to drink plenty of water before popping into a steamroom.
The Prospect Park Tennis Center also got a shout-out in Gothamist’s list, which included such other sites as the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club in Gowanus and Scotch whiskey appreciation classes at Astor Center.
So, what about you? If a Russian-Turkish bathhouse isn’t your thing, what are some of your favorite indoor activities in our neighborhood?