285 KENT

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285 KENT was an "underground," all ages concert venue located at 269-289 Kent Avenue, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.[1] The venue was founded and operated by Todd Patrick aka "Todd P", beginning in 2010,[2] ultimately closing in 2014 to much fanfare and media coverage.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The venue was initially booked and exclusively managed by Patrick, later in partnership with Ric Leichtung, who created the event promotion entity AdHoc.fm, an offshoot of a music journalism website of the same name, to book the venue.[13]

285 KENT operated under the DIY ethos and hosted acclaimed concerts and events spanning indie, punk, hip hop, electronic music, and other genres.[14] The venue strictly hosted only all ages events at affordable ticket prices.[15][16] 285 KENT held a standing-room only capacity of approximately 400 persons.[15]

During its relatively brief tenure, Patrick and Leichtung sought to book 285 KENT to expand the community for DIY events beyond its traditional privileged, white, and straight audience;[17] by seeking performances and partnerships with artists and event organizers representing LBGTQ+ communities[18][19] and people of color.[17] The venue hosted influential events such as the queer youth club night series "TOP 8,"[20] multiple performances by Chicago Footwork pioneer DJ Rashad,[21] Blood Orange,[22] Mykki Blanco,[23] Grimes;[23] and secret shows by artists such as hip hop collective Odd Future,[24] queer R&B artist Frank Ocean,[25] Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky,[26] and others.

Previous to the opening of 285 KENT, the same unit housed the earlier creative spaces Bohemian Grove, a short-lived underground venue for electronic music events (operated by John Barclay who would later open the boutique Bushwick electronic music venue Bossa Nova Social Club);[27][23] and Paris London West Nile, a live/work loft and avant music and performance arts venue occupied communally by several artists and musicians.[28]

The Paris London West Nile collective became the first to lease the unit shortly after its creation through partitioning of a larger warehouse, via association with artist and composer Zeljko McMullen, who worked as an artist's assistant to the musician Lou Reed. Reed and McMullen initially scouted the location and negotiated a lease to house a work studio for Reed, with McMullen taking the lease after Reed declined to occupy the space.[29]

The larger warehouse 285 KENT occupied also housed the creative arts venues Death By Audio, Glasslands Gallery, Ran Tea House,[30] Windmill Studios,[31] the Muse,[32] IndieScreen,[33] and the Glasshouse Gallery,[34] among others. The building's community of creative venue spaces were displaced in 2014 and 2015 by Vice Media, who acquired a lease on the majority of the building to house their headquarters.[35] The building was constructed originally as a satellite structure to the historic Domino Sugar Refinery complex, located directly across Kent Avenue to the West.[36]

References

  1. ^ "Indestructible Room: The Story of 285 Kent". Pitchfork.
  2. ^ "Javelin, Future Islands & Liturgy @ 285 Kent Ave (pics)". BrooklynVegan.
  3. ^ Caramanica, Jon (January 20, 2014). "A Five-Band Countdown to Goodbye" – via NYTimes.com.
  4. ^ "Brooklyn Venue 285 Kent Whispered to Close". Spin. December 20, 2013.
  5. ^ "285 Kent Remembered By the People Who Made It Great". January 13, 2014.
  6. ^ ""DIY Will Never Die": An Exit Interview with 285 Kent's Ric Leichtung". The Village Voice. January 7, 2014.
  7. ^ "Why the Closing of 285 Kent Doesn't Matter". www.vice.com.
  8. ^ Furfaro, Danielle (2014-01-08). "285 Kent goes out with a song • Brooklyn Paper". Brooklyn Paper. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  9. ^ "[UPDATE] Williamsburg DIY Venue 285 Kent Rumored To Close". Gothamist. December 19, 2013.
  10. ^ "Why the Closing of Williamsburg's DIY Venues Doesn't Really Matter". PAPER. December 30, 2014.
  11. ^ "285 Kent booker/manager on Vice Media and the closing of Williamsburg's clubs". October 23, 2014.
  12. ^ Evans, Dayna (January 16, 2014). "The closing of 285 Kent with Ric Leichtung and Todd P; and homophobia in Uganda with Malika Zouhali-Worrall".
  13. ^ "Best Promoter of Concerts And Cats". The Village Voice. October 19, 2016.
  14. ^ Baldwin, Chelsea. "The Top DIY Venues In Brooklyn". Culture Trip.
  15. ^ a b "The Not-So-Secret Reasons 285 Kent Worked". The L Magazine. January 22, 2014.
  16. ^ "Why DIY? Now More Than Ever, Underground Venues Are Crucial". CLRVYNT.
  17. ^ a b "DIY Venue Owner Todd Patrick: Only the Bourgeois Think NY Is Dead". June 23, 2016.
  18. ^ "We Saw Hunx and His Punx at 285 Kent". www.vice.com.
  19. ^ "Hunx and his Punx". August 21, 2013.
  20. ^ Hawking, Tom. "RIP 285 Kent, the Last DIY Music Venue I'll Ever Truly Love". Flavorwire.
  21. ^ "Following the past weekend's string of farewell events, the Brooklyn venue has ceased operations". Resident Advisor. January 21, 2014. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  22. ^ "Blood Orange Album Release Party at 285 Kent NYC 11.15.13 [Zumic Review, Photos & Setlist] | Zumic | Music News, Tour Dates, Ticket Presale Info, and More". Zumic. November 17, 2013.
  23. ^ a b c "Say Goodbye to 285 Kent, Our Last Piece of DIY Williamsburg | Culture". January 8, 2014.
  24. ^ "Trash Talk & Odd Future brought chaos to 285 Kent after the Tyler, Earl & Frank Ocean shows (pics/video)". BrooklynVegan.
  25. ^ "The Final Days of 285 Kent - Deafheaven and Wolf Eyes - 1/18/14". The Village Voice. January 20, 2014.
  26. ^ Shapiro, David. "The End". The New Yorker.
  27. ^ Detrick, Ben (May 15, 2013). "Bossa Nova Civic Club" – via NYTimes.com.
  28. ^ "An Oral History of 285 Kent: 'It Felt Magical and We All Got Wasted'". Bedford + Bowery. January 8, 2014.
  29. ^ "Zeljko McMullen, On Deck". Interview Magazine. March 31, 2014.
  30. ^ "Ran Tea House Is Now a Zen Co-Working Space By Day, Venue By Night". Bedford + Bowery. July 7, 2015.
  31. ^ "Windmill Studios NYC". Time Out New York.
  32. ^ "A Guide to the New South Williamsburg -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine.
  33. ^ "New 'Spiders 3D' Clip! Film Screens In Brooklyn Next Week!". November 28, 2012.
  34. ^ "FREEwilliamsburg: Event Listings Archives". www.freewilliamsburg.com.
  35. ^ "Vice Media the Driving Force Behind Underground Venue Closures". Billboard. October 22, 2014.
  36. ^ "South 2nd Street Over the Years · Javier Cabrera · Displaced Histories 2016". displacedhistories.hosting.nyu.edu.

Coordinates: 40°42′54.5″N 73°57′59″W / 40.715139°N 73.96639°W / 40.715139; -73.96639

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