Contention Over Gentrification

While the owners, both current and former, of these recently shuttered venues have surely felt the brunt of this wave of closings, one might stand to think the local musicians who played these venues, who provided these spaces with a significant portion of their revenue, would be similarly dismayed.

“It’s a huge bummer, but I’m not too surprised I guess,” says Geoff Bennington, who plays guitar and sings in the Bushwick-based Gillian. “Since I’ve moved here,” Bennington—whose favorite Williamsburg venue was Glasslands—says, “I’ve heard people talking about how much Williamsburg is changing and becoming more expensive, and pushing all of the artists and musicians out to Bushwick and other parts of Brooklyn.” While Gillian has played only a handful of shows in Brooklyn, says Bennington, “I don’t go to shows in Williamsburg as often as I used to.”

Similarly nonchalant about these closings is guitarist David Colicchio, who plays for the Williamsburg outfit VÉRITÉ. While he’s played a slew of key Williamsburg venues—Glasslands, Spike Hill, Knitting Factory, Trash Bar, Brooklyn Bowl, Rough Trade, Baby’s All Right—Colicchio insists, “The closings really haven’t affected how often and where I’m playing. There still seem to be plenty of venues in the area that people are willing to come out to.”

“I’m glad I got to play at Glasslands before it shut down,” he adds. “But it seems like a majority of the venues are still operating.” For his part, Colicchio seems to be right.

The Williamsburg scene may be pushing out into Bushwick due to the snatching up of real estate by developers and certain media companies. The confluence of the two neighborhoods’ scenes has created a hydra of sorts: cut off one head, two more spring up. With the advent of clubs like Trans-Pecos in Ridgewood, Queens, and Palisades and Aviv, both in Bushwick, the local scene in and around north Brooklyn is still quite vibrant.

Peter Rittweger agrees with this assessment. “The thing is, the places have just moved further out,” he says. “Williamsburg hasn’t really been the culturally vibrant place that people think it is for a long time. The people who are creating the art on display or the music in the venues can’t even afford to live in Williamsburg.”

However, the establishment of the creative class in Bushwick, with its carefully studied barista techniques and DIY venues, means the contention over gentrification has simply shifted to a new arena. While there’s a bitter irony in leasing a space because of a reasonable or even low rent, only to be priced out of the neighborhood several years later, there are several complex racial dynamics that are being contorted as Bushwick buckles under the pressure to allow new condos and artisanal cheese shops and the like.