The Lot Radio

The Lot Radio is one of my favorite places in Brooklyn for live music and DJ culture. I was first invited out through my street photography work, and it lined up with an HD and Friends residency set featuring DJ Janesita (Instagram: @_lajanesita) back in August ‘23. I’ve been a few times since. Usually reserved for Chicagoland’s Radio Muévelo Sunday programming, Janesita brought her fun blend of Latin house and juke to Brooklyn for a special set. It was her first time recording a blend like that live. I got to experience the place from the inside out, thanks to the chance to shoot inside the booth during her set. Afterward, we hung out at the picnic tables with HD, Janesita, a few fans, and new friends. It was a warm summer day, and the energy around the station felt real and easy as the sun was setting. The Lot Radio is always worth checking out. Whether for work or just hanging out, I’d love to come back and bring friends next time. Big thanks again to Janesita and the crew for a great day.

This is a very nice place to have network meetings and breakfast in the mornings hours from 10 am until drinks are priced like New york. Love the Youtube play button, and they do have over 100,000 subscribers on their youtube channel, as this LOT radio is one of New york hot spots in greenpoint, brooklyn. There are so many people that visit some come first and get a table fast. Do not talk to three young black men who are walking about scamming people with a basketball scam. They do not work or affiliate with any educational program in New york as the NYC school district or the department. The scam is in the news label as (Sport scam) Michael Bisogna from the investigation and chief investigator was updated on their continue to harass people as customers are having food and drinks at lot radio. Be Aware. As someone working for the city, I have knowledge and connections to contact the correct channels. As professional press credentials holder of the city of New York City. Other than that, bathrooms are located inside, and yes, they are portable bathrooms 🚻 You are allowed to bring outside food, as you can see from video and photos

independent online radio streaming daily ran by a lovely bunch of people. was a joy to play there and watch the sun set over brooklyn. there’s a little courtyard / lot where people can hang & get drinks but was closed when I was there.

The kiosk/bar area is not open as of Mid March '25. Seems like they may be in permit hell with the city regarding the bar here. You can still come listen to music on the benches outside tho!

Great place to hang before going somewhere else to club. Good drink selection, and good vibes

GET LOT RADIO…on REAL RADIO? Radio broadcasting is pioneering and more powerful than the internet. There’s a case to be made there, historically and technically, though it’s a bit of a David-and-Goliath comparison today. Radio’s roots are wild—Marconi’s first transatlantic signal in 1901 kicked off a revolution. By the 1920s, it was the first mass medium, beaming voices and music into homes without wires or subscriptions. That’s raw power: a single transmitter could hit millions, no infrastructure needed on the listener’s end beyond a cheap receiver. It’s analog simplicity—electromagnetic waves carrying amplitude (AM) or frequency (FM) modulation, cutting through distance with minimal latency. During its peak, a station like WLW in Cincinnati ran 500,000 watts in the 1930s, blanketing half the U.S. Even today, a 50,000-watt FM tower can reach 50-100 miles, no data caps or ISPs required. Compare that to the internet: it’s a behemoth, but it’s fragile. Servers, routers, fiber optics, and power grids—any link fails, and your stream’s dead. Radio? One transmitter, one power source, and you’re live. Disasters prove it—when hurricanes knock out cell towers and broadband, AM/FM stays on, battery-powered receivers humming. It’s why emergency services still lean on it. And the tech’s got a primal edge: no buffering, no compression artifacts—just a direct signal, pure and immediate. Radio’s reach is physical—limited by frequency, terrain, and FCC rules (or equivalents globally). The internet’s reach is abstract—global, instant, but clogged with gatekeepers (tech giants, ISPs) and bandwidth chokeholds. Radio’s one-to-many broadcast model crushes for scale within its radius; the internet’s many-to-many wins for flexibility and interactivity. A single tweet can ripple faster than a radio wave ever could, but it’s tethered to a complex, breakable web. Pioneering? Absolutely—radio invented real-time mass comms. More powerful? In raw resilience and simplicity, maybe. In scope and scale today, the internet’s a juggernaut. BUT If you want cultural impact with tech purity, radio’s got a gritty charm the internet can’t touch. Cut a deal with a local radio station? And LOT RADIO will be massive. 📡 🛜

This place is the best. The music was phenomenal, wine was lovely, and just a unique space to hang out in. Hope to come back once it gets a little warmer!

Cool spot to listen to music and have a beer , don’t use the bathroom though 🤣