Hello Living resident Becca Brennan
The people of Hello — Hello Magazine
Becca Brennan, 30, is a lawyer-turned-restaurateur residing in one of Hello Living's penthouse apartments with her pups, George and Birdie. We caught up with the native Canadian to chat about living, loving and cooking in Brooklyn.
Fourth time‘s the charm: “I moved three times before I found my current apartment,” Brennan admits. “I need to be outdoors or I go crazy!” Her apartment is bathed in sunlight throughout the day, with floor-to-ceiling windows and front and back patios. It‘s the next-best thing to living outside.
On roads less traveled: “My mom is an attorney,“ Brennan says. “And she convinced me to attend law school by telling me that going doesn‘t mean practicing.” Eventually, after almost four years as an in-house corporate tax attorney, she traded her law books for bottles and baguettes. “I was talking to a bartender friend, and we just kind of went, ‘We can do this!’”
Sit and stay a while: ”Our concept is a boozy sandwich shop. The kind where you can get a drink at 11am, stay for lunch with your laptop and not be afraid to stick around,” Brennan says. ”Of course, it converts into a bar after dark.”
Fusion cuisine: The restaurant is proposed to be a chic blend of contrasts — rustic and urban interiors; a seasonal, locally-sourced menu of far-away hometown Canadian faves, like spaghetti sandwiches; and a for-profit venture that gives back to the community. ”[It‘s a] unique fusion of business disciplines, work experience and complex social support to provide a pathway for young women aged 16 to 25.”
Personal quirk: Brennan loves curating the vault of hipster eclecticism that is her apartment and her life. She collects original pieces and posters from her favorite artists, loves running, participates in a shuffleboard team at Royal Palms in Gowanus and will pick up a bowling game any chance she gets. ”Melody Lanes has the best pina coladas,” she says. ”Go to the Gutter, if you want fake hipster vintage.”
The one thing she'd save from a fire? The boogie board hand-painted by her grandfather that depicts scenes from Martha's Vineyard, where she'd spent summers as a child. And her dogs, of course.