This place is delightful. Had a great time there.
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"... bottle of vodka in the freezer." Lots of fun and a few bucks to boot.
All well and good until someone has a few too many and crashes his car killing or seriously injuring others after leaving the party. Lawyers will have a field day.
Won't make any difference they didn't actually supply the liquor. They'll still be help (at leasr partially) responsible. Deepest pockets and all that.
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@GHL Perhaps they require a designated driver, perhaps they get a signed waiver before the karaoke artists start drinking, perhaps they personally convey people to a taxi or uber when they leave the premises. Drinking and driving is a serious problem but there was no evidence in the article to warrant jumping to the assumption that it was happening in this case. The alcohol fueled damage seemed to be happening in the home only.
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LOL at the absolute pills inventing fictional problems and complaints. Y’all sound like a real fun group. To allay your tut-tutting fears: the space is properly zoned, and you cannot hear anything at all from the street, and very little from the backyard. Roberto and Zaida are wonderful, friendly, kind, and cheerful people who not only know how to fully comply with the law and respect their neighbors, but go out of their way to bring joy to people’s lives. Some of y’all could learn a lot from them.
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@Jim Wagner 187 Meserole is actually not "properly zoned" for the commercial use described in the article, nor is the building benefiting from some "grandfathered" status that would make this commercial use permissible. I'm not sure what sources you've consulted to make you think that it is. Not to say I'm against what they're doing, or that I'm a stickler for by-the-book enforcement of land use regs. But I know a thing or two, and no, what they're doing isn't totally legal. They probably should have kept their business a little more hush hush than agreeing to be part of a NYTimes story... Mr. DOB may come a'knockin some day. (Don't worry... not because of me... I'm no snitch).
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"Y'all"?
For those of us Brooklynites who remember Brooklyn as a more peaceful place, and that very few walls are built to contain today's sound systems, your patronizing comment is way out of line.
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hummm...Asians have been doing this for decades.
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Super!
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OMG! You guys went to karaoke without me?! Rude.
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Serious question, what use is this location zoned for? I wouldn't want to live next door.
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@AS Zoned for Fun!
The fun zone!
The karaoke types aren’t too scary just off key.
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As a kid I worked for the lady from Japan that brought Karaoke here from Japan to Seattle...they call this "Karaoke Boxes" kinda like a rentable cocktail pit with a coffee table as a "stage"...at the time midway thru a music degree...then bringing Karaoke for Pioneer corporation (Giant Laser disks) to the central coast of cali and hosting for a few years in a bar downtown was great..I've always said Karaoke is just the best democratic experience around....something pulls people together to root for each other... I'm just real curious about business licenses/alcohol and all that zoning stuff,,,,here in Cali, i doubt it would be tolerated for too long...but Hey! CoronaVirus changes are a coming.....just bring your own mic folks!
I would like to make a reservation immediately for my birthday in October! Go Shorty, it's my birthday!
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Brooklyn. How did I know?
It would have been one thing to have seen an image of regular folk getting together for fun karaoke, but everything about this image screams 'full of themselves'...
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I’d be annoyed too if they weren’t so good looking and well dressed.
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@Scott Mabe And you look marvelous darling!!!!
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Alcohol and strangers who can't sing in your home. What could go wrong? LOL...wish you entrepreneurs the best of luck.
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They seem like nice people too. Good for them.
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Sounds like fun but I am sorry for the neighbors.....
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What a nightmare for their neighbors.
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This is so heartwarming in light of recent news.
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Inpiring, love it.
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The story sounds delightful, and a fun time. However just because something is fun doesn't mean it's safe for all.
They hold these at their house, on a residential street not zoned for businesses, especially not for a late-night business that involves music and alcohol. Their parties run past midnight, and new customers arrive at their business past midnight (on 3 nights per week, Fri Sat Sun). They said they cleared "six figures" last year, and $15K just in December alone.
Their stated income means they are hosting 60-70 people per night, with alcohol being served. At this rate, they may even be thwarting NYC's liquor licensing laws.
They are skirting NYC's zoning laws, and their neighbors may be suffering. These types of unregulated businesses are at risk for abuse -- of them and others.
This penchant for "the gig economy" and "making a buck, any way you can" isn't always good. There are risks, and people get hurt.
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There is no indication they’ve served anything other than ice, which is completely legal.
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Really happy to hear that these two are doing well. I’ve been to Lions Roar many times and they are always delightful.
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In Philadelphia there's a woman who helps pay the mortgage on her Center City condo by hosting classical music salons a la 19th century Paris or Vienna. This is one of the good things that social media makes possible.
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I love this story.
From 2008 - 2014 my roommate and I ran the "Bushwick Beer Garden" out of our backyard, we didn't sell beer, but held regular events, parties, and neighborhood gatherings, all byob, it was a blast! we listed our themed events on various events listings, and people just showed up to talk and engage. At that time, someone from my work asked me what I did outside of work, and I told them, and they casually said "oh yea, I've been there". These are the kinds of things that seem like they can only happen in NYC. They remind us that people are on balance decent, trustworthy, and respectful, and opening your doors and engaging with strangers is a great way to experience how connected and similar we all really are.
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"As the proprietors and residents of Lion’s Roar Karaoke House, Mr. Williams, 52, and Mrs. Soler-Williams, 47, have hosted up to 30 singers and carousers at a time in their living room almost every weekend for four years."
So the couple own their own building. Is it a detached house or, as per usual in that neighborhood, attached with shared walls? How high is the amplification? With strangers and carousers wandering in, do the couple need a license to run a commercial venture on a residential street?
According to the article, there are few noise complaints. Says who? The couple?
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@B. Building walls are touching on both sides, with a detached building in the backyard. The amplification is well below a club, so think loud part of a movie.
I've been several times and was at a dinner party next door while others were singing. You could hear very muffled noise, pretty normal for the neighborhood on a weekend night.
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@B.:
The couple had strangers knocking at their door past midnight, after they had already "served" a previous group. This is a business, hiding in a residential neighborhood. They cleared "six figures" last year - maybe more if theirs is a cash business.
I'm sure their neighbors can hear the music and strangers walking in/out of their door past midnight. Every weekend.
It's good to be in business. It's not good to thwart laws meant to protect people.
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Oh, the horrors of unlicensed karaoke!! Lighten up.
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What a fun story - thanks! I needed that :)
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This just seems like a 1940/50s cocktail party but one pays for it and uses electronics instead of a grand piano.
It's refreshing to read about people getting out and off social media for a good time.
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What a lovely, beautiful story. Thank you Lauren Vespoli.
As a folk music and dance performer and promoter, I've been holding singing parties in my apartment, and then my house, since around 1976. Back then, they were after the Saturday night contra and square dance in New Haven. But this story is amazing and different, and business success as well!
David blogs at InconvenientNews.Net
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