So, with my friend, Honey in tow I braved the single digit wind chill and wandered through the streets of Brooklyn in UNCOOL anticipation. As we reached Freddy’s Backroom at 8ish PM, we smiled with elation while eagerly gripping 2 beat-up cardboard boxes, some plastic kiddie scissors, glue, styrofoam round thingees and a few other oddities we found lying around the apartment. We were ready for a fun-filled evening of making dioramas- yes, yes… you remember those adorably crappy little boxes filled with household crafty items and/or junk that your mother was once so proud of and your dad thought was just plain stupid.

We enter Freddy’s with delight. Huh- well, let’s see… there’s some band in the backroom breaking down their set, but we see NO other diorama-making creative geniuses anxious to play with primitive art supplies. So, we saddle up to the bartender.

ME: Oh, hi. We’re here for the Diorama Lodge.

BARTENDER: Oh… is it diorama night? No I don’t think so, I think maybe she took March off.

Ahhh, the disappointment was ALMOST too much to bear (especially since said bartender did NOT share a round of free drinks with these 2 weary diorama-less travelers to ease our sadness at this disheartening revelation. But, then we spotted them: 2 guys (strangers with an artistic glint in their eyes) hanging at the bar with all sorts of strange items that could ONLY be… yes, you guessed it- diorama supplies!!! Okay, SO THEN THERE WERE 4.

So, the next little while was spent constructing a nifty, yet half-ass group diorama over a pack of cherry Pez with folks named Fluff, Honey & Paul. We watched the little frogs swimming in the aquarium and discussed scuba diving in Thailand and fuzzy hats and discovered that everybody liked dogs. Ooh, and apparently Lake Baikl in Siberia is one of the freshest bodies of water and is home to blind fish, hummels and seals. “You will overcome many obstacles”, said the crumbly old fortune cookie from Fluff’s pocket.

No one from Freddy’s ever came by to check on us to take a drink order and we weren’t in the mood to hang at the bar, so we took a field trip with our new found friends down the street to Burrito Bar for some pom margaritas, cold beer and okay Mexican food- yum!

Overall: Wasn’t that impressed with Freddy’s, and the diorama lodge was kind of a bust cause it apparently was cancelled without all weblinks getting this info so the news was not widely spread. To be fair though, Freddy’s website had the correct information (THANKS FREDDY’S- WE STILL LOVE YOU), but it just goes to show you can have fun in any situation you happen to find yourself in as long as you have a little patience, some people willing to be silly, some pez and a smile.

PS: For anyone interested- according to the fortune cookie your lucky numbers are 12, 24, 47, 1, 25 & 38.