Knitting Factory

Neighborhood: Tribeca
Creation Date: 1987



It was opened in 1987 by Michael Dorf and Bob Appel, both from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Initially the Knitting Factory was supposed to be an art gallery with a performance space and cafe, as well as a home for experimental music. Michael Dorf was the sole owner from the inception through 1996. Michael Dorf moved the club to Tribeca and building the recording business festival business. For many years there was also an associated record label, Knitting Factory Records. Michael Dorf founded the venue on Houston Street, almost equidistant between CBGB and the Bottom Line, in late February 1987. The club quickly emerged as a home for the sounds that did not neatly fit into the categories of jazz or rock. Artists like Sonic Youth, Cassandra Wilson, Yo La Tengo, Cecil Taylor, Cluster and Bill Frisell played there. From 1987 to 1994 the venue lived at 47 E. Houston Street (it is now at 74 Leonard Street, between Broadway and Church). The New York Times said of Michael Dorf in 1987, "The Knitting Factory has almost singlehandedly revised New York's downtown arts scene in its first six months of operation. Presenting Jazz and improvised music, along with films, poetry, performance art and dance, it's putting on affordable, genrecrossing double bills every night of the week."

Addres:
74 LEONARD STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10013 * 212-219-3132

Website:
http://ny.knittingfactory.com/index.php