Your New Favorite Neighborhood Bar: Veronica People’s Club

First Heathers, now Veronica. No, dear diary, not Heather Duke, Chandler or McNamara; and not Veronica Sawyer either. Veronica People’s Club is a new bar on Greenpoint’s popular Franklin Street, one-third founded and owned by Heather Millstone of Heathers Bar. Dre Herrera and Stevie Howlett make up the other two-thirds of this partnership. Millstone is the main financial partner, Herrera the chef de cuisine and Howlett the Zen master.

Though VPC is new to the neighborhood, Millstone, Herrera and Howlett are not strangers to working together. Herrera has acted as Millstone’s right hand person at Heathers Bar for the past three years and Stevie has been an integral part of the Heathers team for the past four. And while they each have a distinctive role—Herrera and Howlett will be taking care of the day-to-day operations while Millstone will oversee and work more on the creative vision of the space—they are all going to have their hands in everything. Starting with drinks.

Millstone does not want VPC to be a cocktail bar, but she is aware of the prohibition era cocktail trend that’s happening around her and would like to create a hybrid between keeping it really good, simple and smart and going crazy. Millstone says, “I think that for the most part people like their staple drink, . . . something they know is really refreshing, but every now and then they want to step outside of that.”

Drinks are, of course, an instrumental part of VPC, but they are not the only thing on tap. Herrera states,“We’re also trying to not just be a bar . . . We’re all pulling in different parts of ourselves . . . to create this cool, creative combination [that] reflects all of us . . .” Herrera comes from a traditional Mexican family, to whom food is really important. Looking to integrate that into the business, Herrera decided to make tamales named after her family members. Don’t expect them every night, but they will at least be available on the especially busy evenings, so people won’t have to leave the bar in search of delicious food.

And what is the perfect follow up to a night of drinking and eating? Coffee. VPC is by no means to be mistaken for a coffee shop—the inside will be closed off during the day—but they will have a coffee window where you can grab a cup of joe and an assortment of delicious pastries made by Greenpoint’s own creative kitchen, Ovenly, to take back to your studio or rehearsal space.

Coffee will not be the only nonalcoholic drink VPC offers, either. They will also have a variety of teas and, in light of all the babies and pregnancies happening in Greenpoint right now, mocktails. To bridge the gap between new moms and bar dwellers, VPC will sporadically host kid-friendly Sundays where a friend will play G-rated music and there will be activity tables for the children. Other ideas VPC will be incorporating into their lineup are Sunday suppers where up-and-coming chefs will curate meals and matching drinks; film screenings in their rain-or-shine backyard (an extension goes over the top); anda bar necessity, DJs.

In addition to the entertainment, an important part of the VPC equation is the design. Millstone and company have been workingand collaborating with Julie Moskovitz of Fabrica 718. Moskovitz designed Heathers Bar, as well as Millstone’s apartment. Her work has always been about integrating recycled and found materials, or materials used in a different way than intended. The space is made to look simple, but getting it that wayis a serious engineering feat. Millstone says, “It’s not easy stuff. Nothing in there is stock.”

Reiterating the importance of the design and atmosphere, Millstone shares,“It’s all about how you curate that inner space that makes people want to keep coming back because it’s not going to be the alcohol. It’s not because you pour a strong drink or not . . .”She adds,“An Amstel Light will taste like an Amstel Light anywhere you go . . . At a bar, it’s almost 100 percent about atmosphere. People will sacrifice what type of drinks they get because the atmosphere is good.”

Millstone, excited for the new launch,is still pragmatic. She says, “It’s really hard to be the best bar on any block . . . There are a lot of people out there who want to be the hottest thing. I just want to be a really good thing.”
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