{"id":546871,"date":"2026-01-27T13:09:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/546871\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:09:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:09:39","slug":"how-brooklyn-bowl-became-rock-and-roll-heaven-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/546871\/","title":{"rendered":"How Brooklyn Bowl became \u2018rock and roll heaven\u2019 \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a city where the truly unique is rare, Brooklyn Bowl<\/a> stands out, a one-of-a-kind\u00a0music venue and bowling alley that attracts bowlers and performers ranging from John Legend to Adele and Questlove.<\/p>\n

It has built its own \u201cBrooklyn\u201d brand, expanding from its Williamsburg home to locations around the country, from Las Vegas to Nashville and Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n

If the combination of bowling and beats, bowling shoes and dancing shoes, seems to work, it was born not so much out of a love of bowling alleys as dissatisfaction with them.\n<\/p>\n

When the owners of Wetlands Preserve, the classic downtown music club, took their staff out to a bowling alley in December 2000, they were unimpressed with the atmosphere.\n<\/p>\n

The sound system, food and service were all gutter balls, and the alley \u2014 and the bowling balls \u2014 were so filthy their hands got dirty. But they also noticed something else that led to the birth of Brooklyn Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody had a good time,\u201d said Charley Ryan, who along with Peter Shapiro went on to open Brooklyn Bowl<\/a> in Williamsburg. \u201cI never saw them laugh so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A live performance at Brooklyn Bowl, which hosts artists ranging from jam bands to hip-hop legends.Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Bowl<\/p>\n

Ryan and Shapiro developed the idea of upscaling bowling and merging it with a music club not long before they closed Wetlands in September 2001. In 2009, they opened the first Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were both busy doing other things,\u201d Ryan said of the early days. \u201cEvery few months, one of us would call the other one and say, \u2018Let\u2019s look for places with that idea.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Ryan, who grew up in Michigan in the Rust Belt, had been part of a bowling league as a child but never thought the game would play a role in his future.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get a lucky strike, you jump up and down,\u201d Ryan added, noting that bowling was big in Michigan.\n<\/p>\n

He and Shapiro opened and built Brooklyn Bowl as a Brooklyn-branded business, much the way Brooklyn Brewery built on the borough\u2019s name.\n<\/p>\n

Questlove and The Roots<\/a>, the house band for NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,\u201d will perform there on Valentine\u2019s Day, at once looking back to the past and toward the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go back to the Wetlands days with them,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cWe became very close with them. That\u2019s how far back we go with them.\u201d
\n\"\"Questlove of The Roots performs at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. The band, longtime collaborators with the venue\u2019s founders, will return for a Valentine\u2019s Day performance.\n<\/p>\n

With a capacity of 965 for concert crowds, Brooklyn Bowl hosts jambands, themed DJ nights, legacy acts, hip-hop and rap legends, jazz, world music and Latin artists. It\u2019s\u00a0 a cross between Tin Pan Alley and a bowling alley.<\/p>\n

The venue has been dubbed \u201crock and roll heaven\u201d by the Village Voice \u2014 although the \u201croll\u201d part may be bowling balls \u2014 and boasts a sound system and amenities The New York Times<\/a> says \u201cno other local rock club can offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Brooklyn brand<\/p>\n

Ryan recalls believing bowling and beats could coexist despite skeptics, even as people increasingly retreated into a screen-filled virtual world.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought people are becoming more insular, more separated from each other, even though they\u2019re in the greatest city in the world,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cWhat can we do about that?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Shapiro, who also runs Dayglo Presents, a music and media company he founded in 2010, and Ryan looked \u201call over the place\u201d before finding an old Williamsburg ironworks building dating to the late 19th century.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the perfect fit,\u201d Ryan added. \u201cIt kind of went down the food chain of warehouses. You could see the bones. It didn\u2019t look much like what we ended up with.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They installed new HVAC and fire suppression systems and redid the roof, spending millions more than anticipated. A year and a half later, they opened on July 7, 2009. But was it a bowling alley, a club or both?<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked the idea that people would decide for themselves,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIf I heard one of the people say, \u2018We\u2019re really a music venue,\u2019 I would say, \u2018Make it a little more like they can decide for themselves.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The bowling lanes at Brooklyn Bowl sit just steps from the performance stage.Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Bowl \"\"The setup at Brooklyn Bowl allows bowlers to watch bands onstage while rolling down the lane.Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Bowl<\/p>\n

They considered names like \u201cThe Gutterball Palace\u201d before settling on Brooklyn Bowl.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted it to be descriptive,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cBrooklyn Bowl is alliterative.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They opened with 16 lanes, accommodating up to 200 bowlers a night alongside club-goers.\n<\/p>\n

Blue Ribbon Restaurants designed the menu and supplied staff who now work for Brooklyn Bowl.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a close relationship with them,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cAnd they continue to tweak it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

High-end sound systems and high-definition TVs were added to broadcast bands so patrons can watch performances while bowling.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put them on the screens or abstract imagery. Sometimes bands have ideas about what they want there,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cMaybe they only want their image. Maybe they want anything but their image.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Bowl also became the first LEED-certified bowling alley, earning publicity while harking back to the Wetlands\u2019 values.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThose were our values,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cWe believe in respect, respect the people, the planet. That was natural.\u201d
\n\"\"Brooklyn Bowl\u2019s Williamsburg location, housed in a former 19th-century ironworks building. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Bowl\n<\/p>\n

Williamsburg, meanwhile, went through a revival, attracting other businesses to once-sleepy main streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was bubbling under,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIt happened kind of concurrent with us opening up, the boom everything associated with us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Beyond Brooklyn<\/p>\n

Expansion beyond Brooklyn began when potential partners reached out.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe opened strong. People reached out to us,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cThat led to us thinking where we might want to go.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They opened a Las Vegas venue four times the size of the Brooklyn location. Nashville followed in 2020 but effectively launched in 2021 due to COVID-19. Philadelphia opened in November 2021.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBrooklyn has a great inherent public relations asset,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cPeople think of it as gritty and honest and full of people of achievement. They see it in positive light.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Beyond The Roots and Questlove, the venue has built relationships with artists like John Legend, Skrillex, Snoop Dogg, Jane\u2019s Addiction, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Adele and members of the Grateful Dead.<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift once stopped by the Nashville venue and played for a few minutes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cShe stepped on stage there,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIt was her first appearance since [The Eras Tour].\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Bowl hosts large corporate events in Las Vegas, donates its space for community events, makes charitable contributions and serves on nonprofit boards.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a while, people know these people, us, are real,\u201d Ryan said.
\n\"\"Charles Bradley performs onstage at Brooklyn Bowl, known for hosting legacy and soul artists alongside emerging acts.Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Bowl\n<\/p>\n

The company has already expanded and could add more venues, further building the Brooklyn Bowl brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur view about bowling is bowling is fun. It is inclusive. No wonder it\u2019s trend-proof,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cPeople perceive bowling at a given moment to be trendy or not trendy. If you\u2019re good operator, you do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan has bowled with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and with Adele \u201cbefore she blew up.\u201d He has watched Jack White and his band bowl alongside country singer Wanda Jackson at Brooklyn Bowl.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked up and Jack happened to be bowling,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe threw a perfect strike. I said, \u2018I knew you were from Michigan.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Bowl is located at 61 Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg, between North 11th and North 12th streets. More information and a full lineup of upcoming shows can be found at brooklynbowl.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a city where the truly unique is rare, Brooklyn Bowl stands out, a one-of-a-kind\u00a0music venue and bowling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":546872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,648,2122,83267,1121,240478,240479,171,975,405,403,50,2295,5226,5225,5228,5227,240480,75566,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,21612],"class_list":{"0":"post-546871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","11":"tag-bowling","12":"tag-brooklyn","13":"tag-brooklyn-bowl","14":"tag-charley-ryan","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-music","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-newsletter","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkcity","23":"tag-ny","24":"tag-nyc","25":"tag-peter-shapiro","26":"tag-rock-and-roll","27":"tag-things-to-do","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-of-america","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-usa","34":"tag-williamsburg"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115967228010158129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}