AFTR/IMG · ROOM · 285-KENT · CONF VERIFIED
285 Kent
Overview
All-ages DIY warehouse run by Todd P and Ric Leichtung (AdHoc) from 2010 to 2014, hosting Frank Ocean, Odd Future, DJ Rashad, and Grimes before Vice Media acquired the building and ended the largest concentration of DIY venues in early-2010s Williamsburg.
285 Kent opened in 2010 at the waterfront end of Kent Avenue in Williamsburg, occupying a unit in a large industrial building that had previously housed Bohemian Grove (an underground electronic music venue) and Paris/London/West Nile (a live-work performance-arts loft operated by the Shinkoyo collective, 2006–2010, which also founded the original Silent Barn as the Raven's Den). Todd Patrick (known as Todd P, the city's foremost all-ages promoter) founded 285 Kent and ran it initially alone before entering a booking partnership with Ric Leichtung, who launched the event-promotion and music-media entity AdHoc.fm to manage the venue. The room held approximately 400 standing and enforced an all-ages, affordable-ticket policy; Patrick and Leichtung explicitly aimed to broaden the DIY audience beyond what they described as its historically white and privileged composition. Programming was unusually broad: Titus Andronicus and Parquet Courts played early shows; Frank Ocean appeared while Tyler, The Creator of Odd Future hung from a ceiling pipe during a free set; DJ Rashad and Chicago footwork were featured regularly; Grimes, Blood Orange, Mykki Blanco, and Autre Ne Veut all performed. The queer youth club night series TOP 8 was among the recurring parties. The same large building also housed Death by Audio and Glasslands Gallery; all three were displaced in 2014–2015 when Vice Media acquired the building's lease for its headquarters expansion. The closure drew coverage in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Billboard, and The FADER, and was treated as a symbolic end of the early-2010s Williamsburg DIY scene.
Oral histories & archival media
Archive plates
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Sonic profile
Cultural role
DJs, promoters & people
Todd P
Owner · Todd Patrick; the city's foremost all-ages DIY promoter. Founded 285 Kent in 2010 and ran it on a policy of affordable, all-ages shows. Gave a closing statement to The FADER describing the decision as 'calculated.'
Ric Leichtung
Promoter · Co-booker with Todd P; founded AdHoc.fm (later AdHoc Projects) as the promotional entity for 285 Kent. Gave a closing interview to the Village Voice declaring 'DIY Will Never Die.' Now runs AdHoc Projects, a music and culture company.
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