(Photo: Andrew Karcie for NY Mag)
In a story for The Cut that describes Union Pool as the “horny utopia of 2000s Williamsburg,” Allison P. Davis highlights what’s probably the main attraction of the bar: the potential for hookups. Since there’s nothing New Yorkers love more than bonding over a dive, Twitter exploded with users sharing their own Union Pool stories– it was even a trending topic on Wednesday. Which goes to show just how pivotal the former pool supply store is for getting laid, if you’re a hipster of a certain age. Below, some of the best (and worst!) reactions to the story on Twitter.
I have never hooked up at Union Pool but I HAVE smoked an entire pack of cigarettes and then thrown up so I think that’s actually cooler
— Samantha Ruddy (@samlymatters) January 31, 2018
My last Union Pool hookup was Dec 14 2009, age 24, night before my GREs. He was a dashing and successful painter 13+ years my senior. The affair was on-off for 8 years. I missed a whole section of the GRE but still got into Yale. Blessings, Union Pool. https://t.co/47hWA5e8lx
— Alana Massey (@AlanaMassey) January 31, 2018
Massey’s story is probably one of the more positive hookup stories to come out of Union Pool.
I’ve been to union pool twice in the 8 years I’ve lived in New York, I did not get laid either time. Thamk you
— nuanced opinion guy (@charles_kinbote) January 31, 2018
juuuust popping in to say once i went on a first date at union pool when i was 24 where the guy started talking to another woman around the bonfire + within an hour they were making out in front of me; so i got drunk on pbr and cried in the bathroom in a strapless velvet dress
— rachel syme (@rachsyme) January 31, 2018
oh my god. a search of my gchats dislodged a 2010 memory of putting out a craigslist missed connection for a guy i met dumpster diving, who responded and then I subsequently invited him to Union Pool
— allisonb (@irl) January 31, 2018
I dunno why we’re talking about Union Pool right now, but I used to live across the street from it.
Once, a married guy hit on me there, and when I pointed out that he was wearing his ring, he pivoted and tried to hire me as his nanny.
— Just Gwen (@msgwenl) January 31, 2018
Moved to Bushwick in my mid-twenties, and the only person I ever hooked up with at Union Pool was a taco.
— Scott Watson (@scottymwatson) January 31, 2018
Never underestimate the power of a good taco.
My Union Pool story is every gay bar in New York and also someone's basement apartment stoop in Chelsea two blocks from Pieces
— Ira Madison III (@ira) January 31, 2018
a man once bit my face at union pool **end story**
— Rebecca Fishbein (@bfishbfish) January 31, 2018
union pool is a hell place but i shotgunned a beer for the first time on their patio and i’ll always remember that fondly
— (@rachel_pick) January 31, 2018
i also clotheslined a guy in a fedora who tried to get touchy feely with me on halloween while my bf was being commandeered as an emergency bouncer to help eject some guy. i was dressed as enid from ghost world
— (@rachel_pick) January 31, 2018
The Union Pool stories on Twitter range from mildly amusing to downright horrifying, but it’s safe to say that nearly every New Yorker has made some questionable decisions in the Williamsburg bar. And even though mid-aughts Williamsburg is definitely a thing of the past, it seems like Union Pool will endure forever.