Father’s Day Gifts for Every Kind of Brooklyn Dad

Who cares if The Nets suck (right now)? At least their t-shirts are cool.

Father’s Day gifts are never as straightforward as the bouquet and bath salts you’re practically required to buy for Mother’s Day. But that just makes the giving more fun. Here are 15 last-minute gift ideas for your family man.

Foodie Dad
Maybe he knows how to brine a bird, bake a pie, or brew his own beer–whatever his specialty, this dad deserves cool stuff to cook with. For the guy who would grill everything edible if it were up to him, Whisk has cedar grill planks that will inspire him to break out of his sausage-steak-burger rut. For the craft brew fan, Sixpoint has a limited edition leather koozie for $25 that will look as cool as it keeps his beer. And at Brooklyn Kitchen, you can sign him up for one of their excellent cooking classes where they occasionally serve up their own homemade beer as you learn to break down a chicken. Perennial favorites include Knife Skills and Pig Butchering with Sara Bigelow (who is pretty cute to boot). A dad can dream, can’t he?

A/V Dad
This man is such a whiz with your music and photos you may feel like you won’t find a gadget good enough for him. We suggest paying a visit to Dijital Fix located in Bedford Avenue’s alt mini-mall. The design and technology-themed boutique stocks heaps of gifts for the tech-savvy dad including over 20 different models of headphones. Find a pair in his favorite color from Urbanear, or a retro chic pair by Marshall Major. Did he happen to take about a billion photos of the family over the past year? Nothing says “we love you” more than 500 gigs of free disk space on a LaCie Rugged hard drive, which you can find at Mikey’s Hook Up, Williamsburg and Dumbo’s answer to the Apple store. Or spend real big, and get a gift that will totally change the way you listen to music–wireless Sonos speakers that you can link to your iTunes library, Spotify, Pandora, and internet radio, and play from your iPhone, iPad, or laptop. If you order before June 30 you get a free component (the “Bridge”) that you’d otherwise spend $50 on.

Lit Dad
He may not have as much time to read, but this lit-lover still appreciates a good book. Each year Sports Illustrated columnist Peter King reads a slew of titles for a roundup of recommended Father’s Day books, and there are a few on the list that you will want to pick up afterward. Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding, now out in paperback, makes baseball engrossing even if you know or care nothing about shortstops (perhaps because it takes place at a liberal arts college and throws in a memorable gay couple to boot). Canada, by Pulitzer-prizing winning author Richard Ford, is receiving a ton of critical acclaim from fellow heavyweights like Lorrie Moore and Andre Dubus III. And for lighter, inspirational fare, there’s A.J. Jacobs’ Drop-Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, in which the 40-something journalist spends two years being ridiculously meticulous about every aspect of his health, from his eyes to his feet to his diet, and details what works. WORD, BookCourt, Greenlight, Community Bookstore–any of these local booksellers will have these books and more.

One of the few Herschel Supply Co. duffles in stock at Modern Anthology. Get one quick!

Metro dad
You may not want to admit it, but Metro dad probably has more shoes than you. Sound like your man? Modern Anthlology in Dumbo is a veritable treasure trove for the urban sophisticate. A duffel bag by Herschel Supply Co. is the perfect gift for weekend getaways with the family (they also stock higher-end Moore & Giles leather bags). And what’s a dapper daddy without a fine hat? Goorin Brothers in Park Slope is just the place to outfit dad with a proper cap like the Benny More, a stingy brim fedora that will look great this summer.

Sports Dad
If Ratner is a not dirty word in your apartment, and basketball is one of the many games he tunes into, a Brooklyn Nets cap or T-shirt will get the sports fanatic father ready to obsess over yet another team. The black-and-white logo (designed by Jay-Z) may be a bit plain, but the team managed to get the coolest-looking swag in the NBA. Is he more of a baseball fan? Cyclones games are a song compared to Mets or Yankees tickets, the stadium is much more intimate, and it’s in Coney Island–nuff said.

Hipster dad
The hipster dad is a man who can appreciate a gift of the DIY or eclectic kind. At Dig Garden Shop on Atlantic Avenue you can find all the components needed to put together a kick-ass terrarium. Have the kids repurpose a few army guys or a tiny dinosaur for a playful touch–terrariums are as much fun to make as they are to give. But, if dad happens to have a gnarly black thumb, then check out powerhouse Arena in Dumbo. New titles like The Fourty Deuce: The Times Square Photographs of Bill Butterworth, 1983–1984 or Megadeath: Another Time, A Different Place are books any hipster dad would psyched to curl up with.