Saint Vitus Bar Dances Again

I don’t remember the first time I went to Saint Vitus Bar — the original Vitus, at 1120 Manhattan Ave. in Greenpoint. It can’t have been long after I moved to New York in the summer of 2013. The bar had just opened in 2011, and already, it was considered one of the best metal venues in the country. Word traveled, via photo slideshows on Brooklyn Vegan and dispatches from friends who were already in the city, and my jealousy swelled. Vitus wasn’t the only thing luring me to leave my Midwestern college town and my first post-grad job for the uncertainty of a studio apartment in deep Queens, but it was a major draw, and once I arrived in the city, I seamlessly integrated the club into my life. I think the reason I can’t remember the first time I went to Vitus is because it never felt like a landmark moment to me. It was more like one day I lived in Indiana, and the next, I was at Vitus all the time.