The Living Room was a music venue on

Metropolitan Avenue Metropolitan Avenue is a major east-west street in Queens and northern Brooklyn, New York City. Its western end is at the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the eastern end at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The avenue was construct ...

in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was originally established on

Stanton Street Stanton Street is a west-to-east street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the neighborhood of the Lower East Side. The street begins at the Bowery in the west and runs east to a dead end past Pitt Street, adjacent to Hamilton Fish Pa ...

of the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1988. The Living Room was co-owned by Steve Rosenthal and Jennifer Gilson. The Living Room has showcased some of the best of New York City’s

singer/songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted thr ...

alt-country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style f ...

, and

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 Wales ...

. It moved to Brooklyn in 2015 before closing in December of the same year. Norah Jones Cannes 2

This music venue has been called "an incubator of talent," and has been described as "a much mellower and tidier successor to

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

." Some considered The Living Room as The Bottom Line of the "small bankroll" live rock venues.Sisario, Ben. (2007, December 14). Live rock on a small bankroll. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', p. E1. Other comparable venues include

The Saint The Saint may refer to: Fiction * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations: ** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...

in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and

The Cellar Door The Cellar Door was a 163-seat music club located at 34th & M Street NW in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. from 1964 through January 7, 1982. It occupied the location of a former music club called The Shadows. One of the premie ...

in Georgetown,

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The Living Room's line-up featured four or five singer-songwriters a night, yet the club did not typically charge a cover. It did have a one drink minimum and a recommended $5 donation for the bands. Some of The Living Room's sessions were recorded. In 2002 a CD, ''The Living Room - Live in NYC - Vol.1'' (Stanton St. Records), featuring live recordings from The Living Room was released. The CD included performances by

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

Jesse Harris Jesse Harris (born October 24, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, Nikki Yanofsky, and Lizz Wright. Early life and education Harris and his twin sist ...

Malcolm Holcombe Malcolm Holcombe (born September 2, 1955, in Asheville, North Carolina) is a singer, songwriter, and performer. Biography Early history Holcombe was born in Asheville, N.C. and raised in Weaverville, N.C. in his teen years, he played in local ba ...

, Rachel Loshak, and Chris Moore.Bessman, J. (2003, March 15). Words & Music: The Big Winner. ''Billboard,'' p. 36. The Living Room's patrons and performers have been characterized as a "close-knit family..." Those who have performed there include

Joseph Arthur Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Arthur has built his reputation over the years through c ...

Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat (; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame through social networking website Myspace. At that time, she was the number one unsigned artist of her genre. After signing with Universal Republic R ...

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, David Ford,

Beatie Wolfe Beatie Wolfe is an Anglo-American award-winning, multimedia artist and musician described as a "musical weirdo and visionary" known for seeing music differently and creating new formats for music and art in the digital era. These projects inclu ...

Ari Hest Ari Hest (born 16 June 1979) is an American singer-songwriter from the Bronx borough of New York. Biography Early life and education Hest's father is a college music professor and his mother a cantor. His older brother, Danny, is Hest's forme ...

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

Madeleine Peyroux Madeleine Peyroux (born April 18, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album ''Carele ...

, Jason Reeves,

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...

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Martha Wainwright Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She has released seven critically-acclaimed studio albums. Wainwright is the daughter of musicians Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III a ...

and Lizzy Grant (now known as

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Additionally, The Living Room had a smaller more intimate upstairs area known as Googies Lounge. Live artists used to perform every night of the week.

History

Gilson, who is married to Rosenthal, first opened The Living Room in a former

fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

joint a few blocks from the latter location. In 2003, the club moved from

to its second location on

Ludlow Street Ludlow Street runs between Houston and Division Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Vehicular traffic runs south on this one-way street. Name Ludlow Street was named after Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, the naval of ...

, which had a main music room, front bar area, and upstairs lounge. The venue closed on December 21, 2015.

References

External links

Gelber, Linus, "Room With a Few: The Living Room Plays Favorites
, 2000-09-26 {{DEFAULTSORT:Living Room 1988 establishments in New York City Music venues completed in 1988 Drinking establishments in Manhattan Music venues in Manhattan Nightclubs in New York City Lower East Side