AFTR/IMG · ROOM · TIER-3 · CONF VERIFIED
Tier 3
Overview
Short-lived 300-capacity Tribeca no-wave and post-punk room (spring 1979 – December 1980), founded by 23-year-old Hilary Jaeger in a restaurant space where Jean-Michel Basquiat painted the DJ booth, Kiki Smith painted a mural, and the Raincoats, the Slits, DNA, and Bauhaus all played.
Tier 3 grew out of an eponymous Tribeca restaurant at 225 West Broadway where Hilary Jaeger (then 23, East Village-raised) began booking live bands in spring 1979, a few months into her work at the space. The room held approximately 300 people and operated across three floors with distinct functions: the ground floor housed the bar and a DJ booth that Jean-Michel Basquiat (then still primarily known as the graffiti tagger SAMO) painted; the second floor displayed art and photography installations; the third floor screened films as part of the No Wave Cinema program organized by Lindzee Smith. Kiki Smith, associated with Collaborative Projects (Colab), contributed a mural. The booking was deliberately international and cross-genre. UK acts who performed at Tier 3 included the Raincoats, the Slits, the Pop Group, Delta 5, Young Marble Giants, A Certain Ratio, and Bauhaus; New York acts included the dB's, DNA, the Stimulators, the Bush Tetras, 8 Eyed Spy (Lydia Lunch), the Raybeats, and the Lounge Lizards, who played some of their earliest performances there. Madness and an early incarnation of the Beastie Boys also appeared. The programming placed Tier 3 alongside the Mudd Club as one of the two defining downtown rooms for the no-wave and post-punk convergence of the period. Despite its outsized influence, the club closed in December 1980 after fewer than two years. No plaque marks the former restaurant address.
Oral histories & archival media
Archive plates
Plates fill in as scans clear rights
Sonic profile
Cultural role
DJs, promoters & people
Hilary Jaeger
Owner · Founded and programmed Tier 3 starting spring 1979; was 23 at the time and had grown up in the East Village.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Designer · Painted the first-floor DJ booth while still primarily known as the graffiti artist SAMO. Documented across multiple sources as one of his early interior commissions.
Kiki Smith
Designer · Painted a mural at the venue; associated with Collaborative Projects (Colab).
Lindzee Smith
Promoter · Organized No Wave Cinema film screenings on the third floor.
Lydia Lunch
Performer · Performed at Tier 3 with 8 Eyed Spy.
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