MTV recently hipped us to the new hep Brooklyn scene. That's all cool, but we also remember being hepped to one a few years back when the sound was more Electroclash, the leg warmers more colorful, the Fischerspooner more Fischerspooner. It was a time before Luxx became Trash Bar and a lot of people were into Gang Of Four (or at least into sounding like them). On top of that, the cocaine flowed like a white, hyperactive river. Not to cop the faux old-timer tone of Vice's excellent Please Kill Me-punning oral history of Kokie's Place, but it's hard not to get nostalgic about the strangeness of that period.
Last time you were in Williamsburg to check out MGMT did you stop at this bar called the Levee? Well, back in the day, nestled there on Berry and North 3rd, it was called Kokie's Place and, much like it's hilariously obvious name suggested, you could, in fact, order yourself a line or two. We don't want to incriminate or condone or say drugs are cool, but some of us thought we knew the spot well. Shows what we know. Like, can we really directly blame Kokie's for Electroclash? You be the judge...
[photo via Vice]