Rockwood Music Hall
175 East Houston Street | also 200 Allen Street, 177 East Houston Street | Lower East Side | built 1900
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 2005
Ken Rockwood opens Rockwood Music Hall as a small bar and music venue at 196 Allen Street
Ken Rockwood, who went by the nickname "The Professor", opened the venue in 2005 as a small bar with live music. It had three stages: two larger rooms upstairs and a smaller one downstairs. Performers over the years included Sara Bareilles, Sting, Norah Jones, Lady Gaga and Mumford & Sons.
“Owner Ken Rockwood, a.k.a. "The Professor", opened the establishment in 2005 as a small bar and music venue.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2005
Within its first year, Norah Jones, Ryan Adams and Lady Gaga play a room that barely holds 50
Ken Rockwood, who opened the club in 2005, has said that in its first year Lady Gaga, Norah Jones, Ryan Adams, Amos Lee and Brandon Flowers all came to play its tiny room. He had spent 15 years in a band, then took a corporate job, and was in a building across from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Wanting a simpler life, he opened and closed the club nightly for years and ran the sound himself.
Source: wfuv.org
- 2007
Sara Bareilles plays one of her first shows at Rockwood, having played only one New York show before
Bareilles later recalled that in 2007 she played one of the first shows of her career at Rockwood, when she had performed in New York only once. She feared nobody would come, but enough people did to bring her back, again and again. In 2023 she cited that experience as she led the campaign to keep the club open.
Source: thevillagesun.com
- 2013
Rockwood Music Hall starts its own record label
In 2013 the venue founded a record label, Rockwood Music Hall Recordings. That gave the Allen Street room a way to release music as well as host it live.
“Rockwood also had a record label, Rockwood Music Hall Recordings, which was founded in 2013.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2020
Rockwood marks its 15th anniversary with a month of shows as a thank-you to the artists
The club's 15th anniversary began on February 1, 2020. Ken Rockwood, who had turned down parties for the fifth and tenth, said this one was a thank-you to the musicians who had grown up on its stages. The month's bookings included James Maddock, Van Hunt and Wrabel, and radio station WFUV broadcast a Rockwood concert every evening during the week of February 23.
Source: wfuv.org
- 2023
Sara Bareilles leads a benefit series and fundraiser to stop Rockwood from closing
In June 2023 Rockwood warned that it could close for good, blaming interest on pandemic-era loans and high Lower Manhattan rents. Sara Bareilles was to headline the first benefit on June 30, with Amy Helm, Elle King, the Lone Bellow and the duo of Chris Thile and Michael Daves to follow. A GoFundMe set a $250,000 goal, and the club said it had hosted over 75,000 shows in 18 years.
Source: thevillagesun.com
- 2024
Rockwood Music Hall closes without announcing it
The venue closed in November 2024 and made no formal announcement. By then it had operated at 196 Allen Street for about nineteen years, since 2005, with three stages and its own record label.
“Rockwood Music Hall closed in November 2024 without a formal announcement.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2024
The former club at 196 Allen Street is offered for lease a month after it closed
On December 9, 2024, EV Grieve reported that 196 Allen Street, Rockwood's home for 19 years, was available to lease, with no rent given in the listing. The club had closed on November 10 without a public announcement. Some regulars said they were disappointed by the silence, which followed the crowdfunding appeal of June 2023.
Source: evgrieve.com
Further reading
- Rockwood Music HallWikipedia
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