Years before he was slinging coffee and pastries to Greenpointers at 277 Driggs, Uro Café owner Adam found love during an English-as-a-second-language class.
In 1993, when Manhattan Ave looked far different than it does today, a Polish school stood next to where the Citibank would come to be. It was there that Adam met Violetta and, after a few run-ins (and cocktails) at Vera Cruz — a hot spot back in the day — the rest, as they say, was history.
Violetta and Adam’s story is woven with Greenpoint history and familiar faces and names, particularly their wedding at Polonaise Terrace. For the occasion, Adam rented a tuxedo from a local shop. Though the Polonaise would go on to become Brooklyn Bazaar in 2016 and the space would ultimately be sold in 2019, at the time of Adam and Violetta’s September 1999 soirée, the kitschy banquet hall served as the ideal backdrop to the occasion, decked out to the nines in glittering decor.
“Obviously, Greenpoint has changed a lot. I think that the Polonaise was really hard to get in to, but somehow when we decided to get married we went over there and they had the dates available and it was no problem, but it was a hot spot to get into, everything was booked every weekend — Fridays, Saturdays Sundays were booked because there were weddings and also communions, all the different parties,” Adam recalled.
The couple has remained in Greenpoint since their arrival here, paying an unbelievable $700 per month for an apartment on Newell St after getting married and opening Uro Café in February 2007.
And while Adam and acknowledges how much the neighborhood has changed (particularly transforming from a primarily Polish-speaking community) and how many of the couple’s local haunts have come and gone, both his marriage and affinity for Greenpoint remain strong — he and Violetta kept it low-key this Valentine’s Day, opting for a dinner together at home and flowers for their daughters, also born and raised in the neighborhood.