AFTR/IMG · ROOM · PUBLIC-RECORDS · CONF VERIFIED
Public Records
Overview
A Gowanus compound (vegan café, hi-fi record bar, and sound-system dancefloor under one 1913 ASPCA roof) where Francis Harris, Shane Davis, and Erik VanderWal built a listening-culture venue that descends from The Loft's audiophile doctrine and the Brooklyn deep-house continuum.
Public Records opened in March 2019 in a 14,000-square-foot former Brooklyn ASPCA headquarters at 233 Butler Street, a 1913 Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker–designed brick building that served as the borough's primary animal shelter for 66 years and, for several decades prior to the venue's arrival, housed RetroFret Vintage Guitars on its upper floor. The three co-founders brought distinct disciplines: Francis Harris, a veteran Brooklyn producer and DJ (Adultnapper, Frank & Tony with Anthony Collins) who also founded the Scissor & Thread and Kingdoms labels, handled music programming; Shane Davis (Creative Director) shaped the design; and Erik VanderWal oversaw hospitality. The first bookings, consecutive Optimo sets across bar and Sound Room on opening night, March 21–22, 2019, followed quickly by Jan Jelinek, Octo Octa, Call Super, Hieroglyphic Being, Damo Suzuki, Laraaji, and Maayan Nidam, announced an unusually wide range for a Brooklyn club room, stretching from deep house to ambient, avant-jazz, and experimental electronics. The sound systems set Public Records apart from most contemporary club builds. The Sound Room's centerpiece is a four-corner stack system designed by Devon Turnbull (OJAS) and Jason Ojeda (formerly VOID Acoustics): each stack pairs two Void Acoustics Nexus XL subwoofers with a custom OJAS Quad 15 slot-loaded enclosure, an Altec 1505B Multi-Cell horn, and a FaitalPRO super-tweeter, amplified via Void Bias V9, V Q2, and D1 units alongside BGW VXi3.3s with BSS signal processing. The Hi-Fi Bar uses a complementary system of OJAS cabinets with 500Hz horns and Altec HF drivers, corner-stacked over Void Venu 115 subs, powered by Crown Macrotech and vintage BGW units with analog crossovers. Both rooms are fitted with custom Isonoe rotary mixers; the DJ booth runs four Pioneer CDJ-NX2s and four Technics SL-1200 MK2s. The Sound Room seats up to 200 and was designed with perforated-plywood acoustic panels; lighting was devised by the Brooklyn-based Nitemind crew. The philosophy draws directly from Mancuso's Loft lineage, high-resolution, emotionally uncompressed playback that serves the music rather than the room, while adding club-grade low-end for danceable programming. The Sound Room closed through the pandemic and reopened September 17, 2021, with resident Amelia Holt and Shaytoon Records' Sepehr headlining; the following weekend saw Virgil Abloh and AceMo play an unofficial warm-up before programming resumed with Mike Servito, Dee Diggs, Jenifa Mayanja, and a Frank & Tony reunion residency. In late 2022 / early 2023 Public Records absorbed the second floor (previously RetroFret until 2022) and opened Upstairs: an intimate listening lounge designed by Studio Kos / DSLV, acoustically engineered by Arup, and anchored by a Devon Turnbull–built 'acoustic vessel' with wall-embedded subs, vintage horns in a Douglas fir frame, custom tube amplifiers, and a reel-to-reel deck. The Nursery (an open-air plant-nursery event space) also received its own fully horn-loaded four-way system co-designed by OJAS and Norwegian industrial-design studio NNNN. By 2024 the founders had launched Public Service, a design-led hospitality consultancy, and in December 2025 NYCEDC announced a partnership with Public Service to program a new ~1,000-capacity music and arts venue in Building A of MADE Bush Terminal, Sunset Park, expected to open in late 2026, it will not carry the Public Records name but represents the team's direct institutional expansion.
Oral histories & archival media
Archive plates
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Sonic profile
Cultural role
DJs, promoters & people
Francis Harris
Owner · Co-founder and music programmer; Brooklyn-based DJ and producer (Adultnapper; Frank & Tony with Anthony Collins); founder of Scissor & Thread (2011) and Kingdoms labels. Has maintained a residency at the venue alongside outside bookings.
Shane Davis
Owner · Co-founder and Creative Director; designed furniture and spatial identity; co-led the Upstairs build-out with Studio Kos / DSLV. Also co-founder of Public Service (2024).
Erik VanderWal
Owner · Co-founder and hospitality director; oversees food, beverage, and day-to-day operations including the vegan café program.
Devon Turnbull
Designer · Founder of OJAS (Brooklyn Navy Yard); designed and built the custom speaker systems for the Sound Room, Hi-Fi Bar, and Upstairs 'acoustic vessel.'
Jason Ojeda
Designer · Formerly of VOID Acoustics; co-designed the Sound Room and Bar speaker systems with Turnbull.
Amelia Holt
Resident DJ · Among the venue's established residents; headlined the Sound Room's September 2021 reopening.
Optimo
DJ · JD Twitch and JG Wilkes (Glasgow); booked for opening-night sets across both rooms on March 21–22, 2019.
Anthony Collins
DJ · Harris's Frank & Tony partner; the duo relaunched a residency at Public Records in 2021.
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Parties & residencies
Back to the Deep
Event series co-presented by Public Records and Shelter, featuring Timmy Regisford, Francis Harris, and Jenifa Mayanja, explicit nod to the venue's deep-house lineage.
The Nursery Sundays
Open-air afternoon sessions in the outdoor plant-nursery space; summer programming on the NNNN/OJAS horn-loaded system.