Brooklyn Bowl Marks 15 Years

BOWLED OVER: Brooklyn Bowl, a combination concert and bowling facility, has been a hit since it opened 15 years ago in Williamsburg, New York, and has expanded to other markets. (Andrew Blackstein)

Club helped transform New York neighborhood

To call Brooklyn Bowl’s 15th anniversary an accomplishment is an understatement.

The 23,000-square-foot, 900-capacity venue features 16 bowling lanes; it opened in New York’s Williamsburg neighborhood in 2009, but the story goes back a bit further, to when Charley met Peter at Wetlands Preserve nightclub.

That would be co-founders Charley Ryan and Peter Shapiro, who met in 1996 when Ryan was at Wetlands Preserve and Shapiro came aboard and took control of the space.

“He was a general manager. I came in as a kid, and needed help,” Shapiro said.

Ryan was involved in the commodities markets trading on the floor of the exchange, and was doing pretty well with that, but had a deep feeling “that it really wasn’t my reality, and in a way, for me, it was a counterfeit thing for me to be doing with my life.”

Once the two teamed up with an idea to open the first venue to combine music and bowling in quite the way they had in mind, a little thing called the financial crisis of 2007 came along.

The real estate development industry’s Cornfeld family, particularly Arthur Cornfeld and his son Alex, put up the money to turn a warehouse space in Williamsburg’s Hecla Iron Works, founded in 1876, into a hip new venue with a boldly novel vision. The money men were nervous, to put it mildly.

“They funded the whole thing. We found it in 2006. We got a lease in ‘07, and it took us two years to build,” Shapiro recalled. “We opened in summer ‘09, and that’s right in the middle of that financial crisis. It was a challenge. We spent like $6 million, but they stood by us and things worked out for them.”

The formula was innovative in its simplicity: offer a unique experience with bowling lanes, high-quality food and amenities and commitment to providing a memorable experience for both bands and patrons. And through it all, a laser-focus on customer service.

Shapiro and Ryan’s quest to provide elevated food and beverage was a key part of the alchemy. When it was suggested that the club go low end and “just have hot dogs,” the answer was resolute, Shapiro said.

“’No. Blue Ribbon,’” he said of the citywide chain, known for its fried chicken, that provides the food at Brooklyn Bowl. The club serves beers from Brooklyn Brewery, its neighbor that predates Brooklyn Bowl.

“There’s never been a music venue in that area with this kind of food, and when it opened it pretty much hit at once, right away,” Shapiro said.

A lot was on the line, but a decade and a half after opening, Brooklyn Bowl has been a success in the most competitive club market on the planet.

“It’s a hard game, to be 900-cap. or 1,000-cap, in New York City for 15 years,” Shapiro said, rattling off a list of once beloved and now extinct clubs, including Wetlands, which lasted 12 years. “Tramps, Max’s Kansas City, Roseland, Nightingales,” he said. “There’s a lot of venues in New York City, in Manhattan, particularly, I guess Brooklyn too, that are not around anymore.”

The formula was innovative in its simplicity: offer a unique experience with bowling lanes, high-quality food, high-quality amenities and commitment to providing a memorable experience for both bands and patrons. And through it all, a laser-focus on customer service.

The winning combination has seen the club host acts including Paul Simon, Guns N’ Roses, and Tyler Childers. The club’s more than 5,000 shows have included some serious underplays, by the likes of Questlove, who was a venue regular, M.I.A., Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, Childish Gambino, and others. Ticket buyers hail from all 50 states and 46 countries.

The venue has hosted weddings and former President Bill Clinton held a 2010 benefit for the Clinton Foundation’s Millennium Network and a 2016 fundraiser for his wife, then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the venue.

The original Brooklyn Bowl is the world’s first LEED-certified bowling alley and each venue is committed to locally made products and environmental sustainability.

Electricity is 100% wind-powered;  LED stage lights use 90% less energy; the stage is made of recycled truck tires and the Bowlers’ Lounge floor was built from 100% recycled Portuguese cork. Beers are served on tap, cups are made from corn and both bars are constructed from reclaimed wood.

To mark the 15-year anniversary, Brooklyn Bowl will host two nights with Lettuce, ajam-leaning band that’s played the club since its early days. It will be a time to celebrate what’s now a fixture in Brooklyn.

“Questlove’s coming back,” Shapiro said. “He’s done 300 shows. He did every Thursday for about seven years with Bowl Train. He’s coming back at the end of September. We’re doing three nights in October with Daniel Donato. He’s going to be up and coming, for sure.”

Brooklyn Bowl makes impactful use of screens that Shapiro describes as “visual eye candy; 100 feet wide 150 feet from your eyes.”

“It’s like Epcot for adults,” he said, adding that new “toys and candy, and tech,” like a D&B sound system and having in-house technical whiz Victor Cornette ease the way for bands and make them want to return to the club.

The Brooklyn Bowl concept led to a 2019 partnership with Live Nation and expansion into new markets.

There are now Brooklyn Bowls in Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Nashville, all larger than the original. There was one that opened in London in 2014, same year as Las Vegas, but it closed in 2017.

Next up is Washington, D.C., part of Hoffman & Associates mixed-use development tied to Audi Field, home of Major League Soccer’s D.C. United. It’s due to open in 2026.

Brooklyn Bowl’s director of booking, Lucas Sacks, has been with the club since 2012. Between the original Brooklyn Bowl and the one in Philadelphia, he is involved with bringing in about 300 shows annually.

Building a core clientele and adapting to new demographics has meant branching out from “granola” music into everything from punk acts to the queer country music event “Stud Country.” Not a dude in sight at that one, Sacks laughed, when asked who attends.

The partnership with Live Nation since 2019 has provided significant resources and strategic advantages, he said.

General Manager Anna Ayers, who’s been at Brooklyn Bowl for 10 years, said evolving to meet expectations has been essential to the venue’s success.

“We’re not just a concert venue,” she said. “We have food programming, beverage programming. We have a whole events department and we were like the new kid on the block, the only kid on the block, and then all these things started just shooting up around us, like fancy hotels, rooftops and amazing restaurants. So, taking a look at what’s happening in the neighborhood, it’s crucial to make sure we do evolve.”

Ayers said a big part of her job involves driving ideas for events, improvements to the facility and layout changes.

“We’re in a very old building, so things are constantly breaking and we like to very much keep up on that,” she said. “When you walk in, it’s clean and convenient. We make sure we keep everything up to date. Maintenance and repair is a big one for us.”

Last June, Ayers and company, which numbers around 100 staffers, pulled off the world’s biggest drag brunch.

“It was something we had never done before, and it was such an incredible event,” she said. “I’m so glad we took a risk on it, because the reward was just amazing.”