Evidently, this has been in the rumor mill for a while, but I've just learned that the Knitting Factory is closing. Well, technically, it's moving from the space it's occupied for the last fourteen years in TriBeCa and re-locating to Brooklyn. Whatever. It's leaving Manhattan which -- to my mind - basically means it is ceasing to exist (see also Rocks in Your Head). I find this to be a colossal bummer and further evidence that downtown is dead (this, of course, is hardly news).
I still remember the old Knitting Factory on East Houston, where I saw acts like the Meat Puppets and Sonic Youth (performing as "Sonic Death"). That space split in two and became Botanica (the bar downstairs) and a cheap-o compact disc shop upstairs for a short while before morphing into a succession of restaurants. There is now a gargantuan condo in the works right next to it, surprise surprise. The "newer" Knitting Factory opened into a much greater space in TriBeCa in 1994, featuring multiple floors, stages, rooms and bars. I remember seeing a number of great shows there over the years, including artists like Steve Wynn, Elliott Smith, The Billy Nayer Show, The Wedding Present, Miles Hunt and Jonathan Richman.
I don't know when the Knitting Factory is officially shutting its doors, but it will be sorely missed when it goes. Yet another live music Manhattan institution bites the dust.
Oh this is bad news. There was a sign on 14th Street that indicated they were applying for a permit in the old Bloom & Krup space. I was so hopeful about that. I wonder what happened. It certainly didn't come up in the last CB3 meeting I attended.
Knitting Factory had been putting on shows for high school bands to play, which was so very cool. The kids got to go see all these great, young bands, and it gave the bands a place to showcase their music, in a legitimate club, not the school auditorium.
It will be missed.
Posted by: Jill | July 13, 2008 at 07:22 PM
it's moving where the moved luna lounge was. it makes more sense. most of their patrons are going to shows in williamsburg anyway.
Posted by: sybil | November 28, 2008 at 08:56 PM