BUSHWICK — If you're old enough to drink alcohol, you have permission to plunge to the bottom of Brooklyn's newest body of water — a 22-inch deep baby pool outside a Bushwick bar.
An inflatable aqua mini-pool from a Greenpoint toy store has come to rescue revelers at Tutu's bar from the torturous swelter in the sidewalk cafe area — and to connect them with childhood as they slurp down frozen piña coladas and mudslides.
"Everybody was crowded trying to stick their little toes in, and we have these foldup chairs we put in the pool," said Tutu's owner Lucas Walters of the 90-by-90-inch refuge, which he bought at Greenpoint Toys last weekend to draw drinkers out to the new sidewalk cafe.
"We just got outdoor seating finally Friday, and it's been very very hot out. It just sucked because no one wanted to sit outside and it was something I'd been looking forward to."
Now Tutu's "cooling station," replete with two fans and an overhead tent, has become a neighborhood magnet and the sidewalk cafe even became the site of an afterparty for the Knockdown Center's tiki disco party Sunday night, Walters said.
"It was pretty amazing I loved it...Totally brings memories of sprinklers and slip n slides from my youth," said Walters, who has also hosted throwback activities like Nintendo 64 nights with glow bracelets and "Dungeons and Dragons" game sessions.
"We also had a hand-pump mister that we were spraying people with that walked by. They enjoyed it."
The pool — which permits drinking but no eating so it doesn't "get messy" — should be open most hot nights from around 6 p.m. to midnight, Walters said.
He suggested visitors check ahead to make sure it's there before they show up in their swim trunks.
