24
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 1-7, 2022
BY XIMENA DEL CERRO
Farewell Brooklyn, a Bushwick
bar, restaurant and events
venue on 143 Troutman Street, in
Bushwick, was robbed early on
Monday morning. The masked
burglar was caught on camera
breaking in through the front
window at at 6:45 am.
The bar opened about two
years ago — as soon as outdoor
seating was permitted in New
York City after the COVID-19
lockdown— and is subleasing
a fraction of the space to Gunther’s
Café, a breakfast, soup and
sandwiches shop set to open next
month. Property from both businesses
was stolen.
The robber broke through a
padlock, a roll-down gate, window
locks and smashed a glass
window in plain daylight. In just
about four minutes, they took
about $400 dollars in cash from
the bar’s register, liquor bottles,
entire point of sales-systems,
speakers and an iPad from Gunther’s
and took off.
Last February, New York City
saw an increase in every major
index crime category from the
year before, according to an official
statement from the New York
Police Department. In Brooklyn,
statistics show an increase in robberies
of about 55 percent since
February 2021.
“People were walking around
for work and this person started
breaking in through a window,”
said Farewell’s owner, Daniel
Teran. “I just want to make sure
that everybody knows there’s
somebody going around robbing
places and that, if anybody knows
this person, let us know. It was one
person and I think it is desperation
acting out.”
Other businesses in the area
have also been broken into recently.
Three people robbed Cafe
Moca on Central Avenue last January.
Their espresso machine,
worth $12,000 dollars was taken.
A Chinese restaurant nearby was
robbed too.
“We are still feeling the effects
from the break in financially and
emotionally,” said the staff at Cafe
Moca, in a message to Brooklyn
Paper. “Especially when only two
months have past and we find out
our neighboring business was
robbed. Hard to sleep at night
knowing it could happen again.”
Teran says police have been
“on point” running the investigation,
and told him they will analyze
the video and look for fingerprints
in case the burglar was not
wearing gloves.
The business owner, who owns
five other restaurants and bars
across New York has been robbed
before, he said. Millie’s Cuban
Café, also in Bushwick, was broken
into during the city’s lockdown
in 2020. After being in the
neighborhood for 12 years, Teran
says he “would still give our
neighborhood a great rating.”
The bar often hosts live DJ
sets and drag shows. After dealing
with tension from neighbors
raising noise complaints around
closing time and having the police
patrolling regularly, Teran says
things have turned around and
the community has reached out
to show support since the robbery
occurred.
A patron of both Farewell
and Gunther’s has started a Go-
FundMe raising over $1,300 dollars
to make up for the damages
and stolen items. Teran estimates
repairing and replacing what
was lost will cost roughly $2,000.
Both business owners say they’ll
donate any exceeding funds to
charity.
Farewell is insured, but the
Teran said going that route
would be more inconvenient.
“It was a loss,” he said. “Fortunately,
we just pick up our
heads, we fix everything, and we
do our thing. We want to open for
one of our fun nights.”
Farewell opened on March 29
to host their weekly trivia event.
Sarah Khoshaba, owner of Gunther’s,
said her business is still
on track to open in mid-April.
Farewell, burglars!
Restauranteur, Daniel Teran opened Farewell Brooklyn, an “inclusive community
space” in 2020, where he now hosts drag shows, trivia nights and live DJ sets.
The bar was robbed in broad daylight on March 28.. Daniel Teran
Patrons rally around Bushwick bar robbed in broad daylight
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