Red Door was a 2,000 SF event and music space located in the heart of Chelsea,

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 remained private to the public for 37 years. Its name changed over the years, but always based on the colors of the front door (previous incarnations were Green Door and Purple Door). The venue attracted a wide array of celebrities and personalities in the music and entertainment world.

History

In 1978,

Giorgio Gomelsky Giorgio Sergio Alessando Gomelsky (28 February 1934 – 13 January 2016) was a filmmaker, impresario, music manager, songwriter (as Oscar Rasputin) and record producer. He was born in Georgia, grew up in Switzerland, and later lived in the Un ...

purchased a small industrial townhouse near the

Chelsea Hotel The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hot ...

in Manhattan, steps from

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

’s

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

. The space previously served as a printing press, and Gomelsky ultimately decided to turn the space into an accessible and affordable place for talented musicians and artists to develop, create and showcase their works. The goal was to provide a safe haven to make music and art that wasn’t exactly commercial and could shake up the NY scene.

Notable artists

Alejandro Escovedo Pedro Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, includin ...

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. In ...

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American punk rock band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an ade ...

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

Billy Bang Billy Bang (September 20, 1947 – April 11, 2011), born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer. Biography Bang's family moved to New York City's Bronx neighborhood while he was still an infant, and as a ...

Glenn Branca Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...

* Jason Reischel *

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (raised as Scott Moorhead; November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997) was an American musician. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, he attracted a cult following in the early 1990s performing at venues in ...

Jesse Malin Jesse Malin (born January 26, 1967) is an American rock musician, guitarist, and songwriter. He began his performing career in the New York hardcore band Heart Attack, and rose to prominence as vocalist of D Generation. , he is a solo recordin ...

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television (band), ...

* Richard Lloyd *

The Rapture The Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still a ...

Dave Soldier David Sulzer (born November 6, 1956) is an American neuroscientist and musician. He is a professor at Columbia University Medical Center in the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and pharmacology. Sulzer's laboratory investigates the interact ...

The Walkmen The Walkmen is an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The band consists of Hamilton Leithauser (vocals), Paul Maroon (guitar, keyboards), Walter Martin (musician), Walter Martin (bass, organ), Peter Matthew Bauer (org ...

Kickstarter and closure

In 2003, the venue sustained substantial roof damage due to debris falling from a neighboring building. The artist-supported venue had limited repair funds and the building slowly fell into decline. In an effort to save the venue, Raul Gonzalez, Ian Cuttler and Giorgio Gomelsky formed Red Door Collective to restore the venue to its former glory. They begin a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign which raised $25,025 of their $25,000 goal. This begin initial repairs on the facility and the venue continued to host music-centric events. After a heavy rain, the damaged infrastructure threatened the safety of anyone who entered the establishment and the

New York City Department of Buildings The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is the department of the New York City government that enforces the city's building codes and zoning regulations, issues building permits, licenses, registers and disciplines certain construction ...

issued a full vacate order on the property. On May 13, 2013, Raul Gonzalez of the Red Door Collective updated the public by saying, "Gomelsky has been compelled to move from the space, which is slated for a sale and likely demolition later this summer."

The Red Door Today

In February 2016, the once bright red door was covered in graffiti with a memorial to its former proprietor,

, who died on January 13, 2016, from cancer. Demolition began in 2017.

References

{{Chelsea, Manhattan Chelsea, Manhattan Music venues in Manhattan 1978 establishments in New York City 2015 disestablishments in New York (state) Former music venues in New York City