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Knitting Factory staff members
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A few years ago, Lou Reed was playing the Knitting Factory, one of the most revered bastions of independent music in New York. The show was packed with people, and before long the FDNY appeared to ensure that fire codes were being obeyed, which they were. As the firefighters were heading out, one of them asked Knitting Factory founder and board member Michael Dorf who the saxophonist was. When they learned it was David Sanborn on stage, six firefighters -- all in full gear -- decided to stay for the set.
"We've always had a good relationship with the FDNY and NYPD," says Dorf. "That's why for a few years our motto was, 'The Knitting Factory: the safest club in town.'"
The Knitting Factory (74 Leonard Street) first opened its doors in 1987 at 47 East Houston St., a small club space between Mott and Mulberry. Dorf, who stepped down as CEO of "the Knit" on February 14, chose Lower Manhattan because he saw the term "downtown" as being synonymous with "alternative" and even "rebellious." That first club saw a number of local musicians score record contracts and move on to larger venues, and even more fade into New York music history.
In 1989, with the rise of compact discs, Dorf created the Knitting Factory's own record label. "We had so much great live music happening here," says Dorf. "People from across the country and Europe wanted to experience it without having to travel to New York. So we started recording almost all of our shows -- especially the very experimental stuff -- because we knew that that music would be harder to find in a record store."
The record label was an overnight success, and positioned the Knitting Factory as a national force on the independent music scene. By the mid-1990s, business was booming, and the club was attracting increasingly popular bands that were drawing bigger and bigger audiences. Dorf needed more room, and turned to Tribeca.
"Around 1993 and 1994, Tribeca was kind of a desolate neighborhood -- and it was on the artistic cutting edge at the time," he explains. "It made sense for the Knitting Factory to be there. The space on Leonard Street was twice as big, and our move there helped pioneer that area. Since then, Tribeca has taken on a whole new personality."
Dorf also began exploring how the Internet, then considered the revolutionary new wave of media, could share the Knitting Factory's music with a global audience. With sponsorship from Apple and Intel, he began digitally posting music online, and even used streaming video to broadcast concerts in real time via the Web.
In 1996, Dorf created Knit Media Inc. as the parent company of his ventures, and began thinking about expansion beyond New York. He opened the Hollywood Knitting Factory in 2000, which has earned a reputation -- like that of its East Coast counterpart -- as one of the best places to see hot indie bands.
The next stop for the Knitting Factory is Paris, where its first European club will open this September. "Paris has a very healthy music scene right now," says Dorf. "It's one of the only markets in the world where record sales have gone up in the past few years. There's also a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in Paris for creative world music."
Meanwhile, the New York Knitting Factory is still going strong, hosting local bands as well as national and international artists. Last summer, the club gained even more prestige as the site of the Tribeca Film Festival's opening night party, which was well-attended by celebrities and local VIPs.
And regardless of where the Knitting Factory lands internationally, it's clear that Dorf's heart will always remain downtown. "I'd always wanted to develop clubs in all the major cultural centers in the world. But really, New York is the single greatest cultural center of them all."
Visit www.KnittingFactory.com for more information about the club and upcoming shows.
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