It's been almost two years since beloved down-and-dirty Williamsburg club Glasslands shuttered, leaving a DIY-sized hole in the hearts of underground music fans across Brooklyn. Now, the former owners of that club are gearing up to launch their next venue, Elsewhere, in Bushwick.
Elsewhere is a $3 million, 24,000 square-foot music venue and arts space opening in a converted Bushwick warehouse at 599 Johnson Avenue later this fall (just off the Jefferson L stop). The venue will include multiple performance spaces, high-end audio/visual capabilities, an open rooftop, art gallery and loft bar. Of the five main spaces, the largest, a 5,000 square-foot performance hall, will host live music and dance music, and serve as a space for multi-disciplinary events, while a smaller, 1,200 square-foot performance space, will showcase emerging artists.
There is also the Skybridge Gallery, a small art gallery above the outdoor courtyard that will be open in tandem with the Loft Bar (which will have a small food menu along with full bar and coffee).
"We started looking for a location in the winter of 2013, and it took us about a year and a half to find it," said co-founder Dhruv Chopra in a statement. "The back lot was filled with massive shipping containers. Large portions of the building were covered in rusting corrugated steel. Architecturally, the building is a labyrinth, it's weird. And there was this disused floating bridge structure hovering above the courtyard. I think most people would have looked at the building and thought 'This isn't the right spot for a music venue,' but we felt an immediate connection to it. It was obvious to us. It felt like Elsewhere."
Also different for the Glasslands team: unlike that venue, which for many years thumbed its nose at things like building codes, this new space is all by-the-book. But that doesn't mean they're joining the standard music industry juggernaut: instead of using ubiquitous concert promoters Live Nation, the founders are planning to book a majority of shows through their own production company, PopGun Presents.
"I was actually living in Bushwick in the early days of booking Glasslands, and a big challenge was trying to convince national and international touring bands to come play Williamsburg for their U.S. debut shows instead of the Lower East Side," said co-founder Rami Haykal. "Those venues were better facilities, but Brooklyn had energy. Bushwick reminds me of that time; there's a chance to give our artists and audiences a home again, more than just open another venue."
