The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States. The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, performance art, standup comedy, and musicians who transcended the usual boundaries of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, often

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

. The Knitting Factory owners distributed some performances to radio stations, and around 1990 starting a radio show and the record label Knitting Factory Works. Later the founders started Knitting Factory Records in 1998.

History

Founding in New York (1987)

The Knitting Factory was founded by Michael Dorf and Louis Spitzer in 1987. It was named by Dorf's and Spitzer's childhood friend Bob Appel and songwriter Jonathan Zarov, who derived the name through joking about Appel's experience working in an actual knitting factory. Appel, a lifelong musician, joined as a co-owner and co-manager soon after its founding.

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

was heavily associated with the creative direction of the club in its earliest years. The original location was in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

at 47 East

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson ...

, near to

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

and within walking distance of The Bottom Line. The venue was founded as an art gallery, with a performance space and cafe, as well as a home for experimental music. Within a few years, the venue relocated to a new Manhattan location at 74 Leonard St, which featured a much larger main hall that generally showcased independent rock and pop music, and two smaller subterranean stages that were initially dedicated to avant garde music. Since 1990, the Knitting Factory has sponsored the What is Jazz? Festival, a two-week long event in several locations in New York City. The event became so successful that its name was changed to the New York Jazz Festival.Bambarger, Bradley. "At 10, The Knitting Factory is a Powerhouse of New Music." Billboard 109.5 (1 Feb. 1997): 1, 74–75. Knitting Factory Records was later founded in 1998.

New clubs outside New York (2000–2007)

Dorf opened a new club location in Los Angeles in 2000 under the former parent company of Knitting Factory Entertainment, KnitMedia. Jared Hoffman, the founder of

Instinct Records Instinct Records is a New York City electronic-music record label that first gained prominence in 1989. It is best known for releasing much of Moby's early work. Moby produced a number of tracks under various monikers so that in the early days, th ...

, which was acquired by Knitting Factory Entertainment in 2002, took over as CEO of the company from Dorf in 2004. In 2006 he oversaw the acquisition of concert promoters Bravo Entertainment and, in 2008, re-branded two of Bravo's clubs (one in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

, and another in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

) as Knitting Factory concert houses. The company then began promoting a number of mainstream tours throughout the US under the promotion arm Knitting Factory Presents. In 2007 The Knitting Factory partnered with

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...

to record and broadcast concerts from both Knitting Factory locations.

Ownership changes and move (2008)

Hoffman left the company when Morgan Margolis, who started working for the brand in 2000, took over as CEO in 2008. In July 2008 the owners announced their move to close the Manhattan location and move to a much smaller space in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. It was an independe ...

at 361 Metropolitan Ave. At this new venue alternative comedy thrived, with many notable comedians gracing the stage including

Hannibal Buress Hannibal Amir Buress ( ; born February 4, 1983) is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He started performing comedy in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University. He starred on Adult Swim's '' The Eric Andre Show'' from 20 ...

, Seth Herzog, Che Bridgett, Dan Ilic, and

Pete Davidson Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', ''Friends of the People'', ''Guy Code'', and ''Wild 'n O ...

. But they changed their minds and reopened the

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

location, and continued putting on shows with bands including The Shells, the

Cro-Mags The Cro-Mags are an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band, which has garnered a strong cult following, has released six studio albums, with the first two considered the most influential. With a Hare Krishna background, they ...

, and

New Model Army (band) New Model Army are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1980 by lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Justin Sullivan, bassist Stuart Morrow and drummer Phil Tompkins. Sullivan has been the only c ...

. At that time, the New York and Hollywood locations held over 5,000 live performances each year.

Reno and closures (2009–present)

In July 2009 it was reported that the Los Angeles location was closing. The last show in the Manhattan location was on July 25, 2009, and was an event called Staff Infection in which staff took to the stage and said goodbye to its beloved club. The last band to play KFNY was 12,000 Trees featuring 3 Knit staffers. A new location was set to reopen in Brooklyn in July 2009. On September 9, 2009, The Knitting Factory relocated to the former space of the Luna Lounge—itself a Manhattan transplant—at 361 Metropolitan Avenue. This location, completely remodeled, had a capacity of about 300. The venue opened with a performance by

Les Savy Fav Les Savy Fav ( ) is an American indie rock band based in New York City. Their style is influenced by art punk and post-hardcore. The group is known for the stage presence of lead singer Tim Harrington. The band is signed to Frenchkiss Record ...

. A new Knitting Factory location opened near the Reno Arch in downtown

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

on January 1, 2010. It was announced that this location would be closing in March 2016. In August 2022 the Williamsburg location closed due to dramatic rent increases on top of significant revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Stated plans at the time were to relocate the venue to the East Village in 2023. The Knitting Factory returned to Los Angeles in late 2022 with a venue opening in the neighborhood of North Hollywood. This venue closed in December 2023, with plans to reopen in the Art District of

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

in 2024. The Knitting Factory New York reopened in the old Pyramid Club location on Avenue A, now called Baker Falls, on July 20, 2023. It closed one year later in July, 2024, for sound proofing.

Knitting Factory Works

The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, performance art, standup comedy, and musicians who transcended the usual boundaries of

and

, such as

the Lounge Lizards The Lounge Lizards were an eclectic No Wave musical group founded by saxophonist John Lurie and his brother, pianist Evan Lurie, in 1978. Initially known for their ironic, tongue-in-cheek take on jazz, The Lounge Lizards eventually became a show ...

Dewey Redman Walter Dewey Redman (May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006) was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett. Redman mainly played tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also played alto s ...

, Don Byron,

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...

, and

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

. The owners recorded some of these performances and distributed them to radio stations. They started a radio show in 1990 that was broadcast nationwide, and sometime between 1989 and 1990 a record label called Knitting Factory Works. In ten years the label issued over 200 albums that included music by Marilyn Crispell,

Mark Dresser Mark Dresser (born September 26, 1952) is an American double bass player and composer. Career Dresser was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. In the 1970s, he was a member of Black Music Infinity led by Stanley Crouch and performed w ...

, Bill Ware, Roy Nathanson, Charles Gayle, Joe Morris, and Curtis Fowlkes.

History

Founding in New York (1987)

New clubs outside New York (2000–2007)

Ownership changes and move (2008)

Reno and closures (2009–present)

Knitting Factory Works

See also

References

Further reading