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Brooklyn Bowl

Address	61 Wythe Avenue
Location	Brooklyn, New York 11249
Coordinates	40°43′19″N 73°57′27″W / 40.72188°N 73.957424°W / 40.72188; -73.957424
Owner	Peter Shapiro
Seating type	Standing
Capacity	600
Opened	July 7, 2009 (2009-07-07)
Website
brooklynbowl.com

Brooklyn Bowl is a music venue, bowling alley and restaurant in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2009, it is located in the former Hecla Iron Works Building at 61 Wythe Avenue. It is known for its high-tech green construction and variety of musical acts. In 2013 Rolling Stone named Brooklyn Bowl the 20th best music club in the United States.

There are additional locations in Las Vegas, Nashville, and Philadelphia.

Hecla Iron Works Building

The building was home to Hecla Iron Works, founded in 1876 by Scandinavians Neils Poulson (1843-1911) and Charles Eger (1843-1916). It was named after an active volcano in Iceland, Mount Hekla. By 1889 the works had grown to a large complex taking up most of a city block. Following two fires, Poulson, who had a background in architecture and engineering, began experimenting with fire-proof design. The replacement building was innovative, combining non-combustible brick, plaster and iron in a single foundry structure built in 1892 and other buildings completed in 1896-97.

Throughout the main structure samples are found of the products made at Hecla. Staircases, fire escapes, manhole covers, street gratings, subway kiosks and the cast iron frameworks for elevators came from the Hecla Ironworks factory and were shipped by barge across the river from the Greenpoint Avenue piers. The 133 original subway entrance and exit shelters, built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company prior to the New York City Subway's 1904 opening, were fashioned there and assembled in place on location. Street lampposts, fences, balustrades, door facades, security gates and sidewalk clocks were all available by catalog. Many older buildings in New York still have iron stairways and elevators created by Hecla that are still in use. Until the advent of terracotta as a prime ornamental building material, the industry was competitive with other ironwork factories supplying the trade from Brooklyn, manufacturing all manner of iron works for the building trades. Hecla merged its foundry with a rival firm in 1913; the new firm was named Hecla-Winslow. Poulson gave ownership to a foundation which sold it in 1928 to the Carl H. Schultz Mineral Water Company.

In 1989 the upper floors of the four-story building were converted into residential space to serve the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. The building was made a New York City designated landmark on June 8, 2004 for the Bower–Barff process used on the facade which imparted a black velvety surface to cast iron that did not require painting.

Conversion to bowling alley

By 2005 Williamsburg had evolved a nascent hipster scene. During the early 2000s, the neighborhood became a center for indie rock and electroclash. Peter Shapiro, a former owner of the Tribeca nightclub Wetlands Preserve and Charley Ryan, the venue's General Manager, discovered the vacant iron foundry, originally built in 1882 while walking around Williamsburg. The pair teamed with fellow founding partners Alex and Arthur Cornfeld for a two-year renovation of the space that they opened as Brooklyn Bowl on July 7, 2009. It was the first bowling alley in the country, and possibly the world, to be LEED certified with its pinspotter machines using 75% less energy than typical pinspotters.

The concert stage floor was built using recycled truck tires, and is lit entirely by LEDs. Much of the rest of the establishment was constructed using recycled materials, including glass reclaimed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and custody-controlled wooden floor boards reclaimed from the original ironworks building in which it now stands.

In 2010 former President Bill Clinton held a benefit at Brooklyn Bowl for the Clinton Foundation Millennium Network. In February 2016, Clinton returned to Brooklyn Bowl to hold a fundraiser for his wife Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Presidency.

Features

Brooklyn Bowl has over two thousand square feet of floor space that includes a sixteen-lane bowling alley, operating alongside the music floor. The 600 capacity music hall has hosted numerous notable acts, including Guns N' Roses, Elvis Costello, The Roots and RJD2.

The bars serve only draught beers brewed within Brooklyn, and in 2010 it was reported the establishment was the biggest seller of Brooklyn-based beer.

The venue also features food service run by the popular citywide chain Blue Ribbon, including a restaurant area which seats approximately 60 people.

Other locations

Brooklyn Bowl opened additional locations in London and Las Vegas in 2014. The London site closed in January 2017.

In June 2020, a fourth location was opened in Nashville, Tennessee, overlooking First Horizon Park, a ballpark which is home to the Nashville Sounds Minor League Baseball team.

In November 2021, a fifth location opened in Philadelphia.

References

1. "Brooklyn Bowl in New York". Rolling Stone. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
2. "Brooklyn | Brooklyn Bowl".
3. Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee (2011). The Landmarks of New York (5th ed.). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p. 367. ISBN 978-1-4384-3769-9.
4. "Hecla Iron Works Building". streeteasy.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
5. Spellen, Suzanne (August 6, 2018). "The Hecla Iron Works Factory Rose From the Ashes in Williamsburg". Brownstoner. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
6. geoffreyowencobb (2014-04-17). "Hecla Iron Works". historicgreenpoint. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
7. Heij, Patrick (2014-04-30). "Verboten, a New Dance Club in Williamsburg, Opens". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
8. Sisario, Ben (31 July 2008). "New Club Twins Rock 'N' Bowl". The New York Times.
9. Lieberman, Abby (November 13, 2011). "Two years after opening, Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg is still a popular fusion of Blue Ribbon food, live music and bowling". New York Daily News.
10. Carlson, Jen (May 22, 2009). "Brooklyn Bowl Readies For Opening". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
11. ^ Danberg-Ficarelli, Meredith (January 21, 2010). "Brooklyn Bowl is the World's Only LEED Certified Bowling Alley". Inhabitat. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
12. ^ Clemons, Dante. "Brooklyn Bowl Powered by Wind in New York". Catalyst Strategic Design Review. Archived from the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
13. Shea, Danny (17 September 2010). "Bill Clinton Shows Up At Brooklyn Bowl". Huffington Post. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
14. Fishbein, Rebecca (February 4, 2016). "Bill Clinton Hosting Hillary Fundraiser at Brooklyn Bowl". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 2016-02-07. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
15. Staff, BrooklynVegan. "Brooklyn Bowl - open July 7". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
16. St. John, Colin (7 June 2013). "Guns N' Roses @ Brooklyn Bowl 6/6/13". Stereogum. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
17. "Elvis Costello & the Roots announce album release party at Brooklyn Bowl". Brooklyn Vegan. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
18. Ghorashi, Hannah E. "RJD2 at Brooklyn Bowl". Relix. Archived from the original on 1 March 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
19. "Brooklyn Bowl". Time Out. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
20. Smirkle, Richard (January 10, 2017). "London's Brooklyn Bowl Strikes Out, Closes After 3 Years: Update". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
21. Leimkuehler, Matthew (June 1, 2020). "Brooklyn Bowl Nashville Opens This Week to Limited Dining Capacity". The Tennessean. Nashville. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
22. "Ballpark Building Lands Bowling Business". NashvillePost.com. Nashville. June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.

• Music venues in Brooklyn
• Bowling alleys
• Williamsburg, Brooklyn
• Defunct iron and steel mills