285 KENT was an "underground," all ages concert venue located at 269-289 Kent Avenue, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City.[1] The venue was founded and operated by Todd Patrick aka "Todd P", beginning in 2010,[2] ultimately closing in 2014 to much fanfare and media coverage.[3][4][5][6] The venue was initially booked and exclusively managed by Patrick, later in partnership with Ric Leichtung, who created the event promotion entity AdHoc.fm, an offshoot of a music journalism website of the same name, to book the venue.[7]
285 KENT operated under the DIY ethos and hosted acclaimed concerts and events spanning indie, punk, hip hop, electronic music, and other genres.[8] The venue strictly hosted only all ages events at affordable ticket prices.[9][10] 285 KENT held a standing-room only capacity of approximately 400 persons.[9]
During its relatively brief tenure, Patrick and Leichtung sought to book 285 KENT to expand the community for DIY events beyond its traditional privileged, white, and straight audience;[11] by seeking performances and partnerships with artists and event organizers representing LBGTQ+ communities[12][13] and people of color.[11] The venue hosted influential events such as the queer youth club night series "TOP 8,"[14] multiple performances by Chicago Footwork pioneer DJ Rashad,[15] Blood Orange,[16] Mykki Blanco,[17] Grimes;[17] and secret shows by artists such as hip hop collective Odd Future,[18] queer R&B artist Frank Ocean,[19] Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky,[20] and others.
Previous to the opening of 285 KENT, the same unit housed the earlier creative spaces Bohemian Grove, a short-lived underground venue for electronic music events (operated by John Barclay who would later open the boutique Bushwick electronic music venue Bossa Nova Civic Club);[21][17] and Paris London West Nile, a live/work loft and avant music and performance arts venue occupied communally by several artists and musicians.[22]
The Paris London West Nile collective became the first to lease the unit shortly after its creation through partitioning of a larger warehouse, via association with artist and composer Zeljko McMullen, who worked as an artist's assistant to the musician Lou Reed. Reed and McMullen initially scouted the location and negotiated a lease to house a work studio for Reed, with McMullen taking the lease after Reed declined to occupy the space.[23]
The larger warehouse 285 KENT occupied also housed the creative arts venues Death By Audio, Glasslands Gallery, Ran Tea House,[24] Windmill Studios,[25] the Muse,[26] IndieScreen,[27] and the Glasshouse Gallery,[28] among others. The building's community of creative venue spaces were displaced in 2014 and 2015 by Vice Media, who acquired a lease on the majority of the building to house their headquarters.[29] The building was constructed originally as a satellite structure to the historic Domino Sugar Refinery complex, located directly across Kent Avenue to the West.[30]