Christian Ricci Behind the Scenes in New York – Fall 2020 Assignment #1 October 05, 2020

Opened in 1973 on Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village, CBGB was a bar and music venue which features prominently in the history of American punk rock, New Wave and Hardcore music genres. The club’s owner, Hilly Kristal, was always involved with music and musicians, having worked as a manager at the legendary jazz club Village Vanguard booking acts like Miles Davis. When CBGB first opened its doors in the early seventies the venue featured mostly country, blue grass, and blues acts (thus CBGB) before transitioning over to punk rock acts later in the decade. Many well know performers of the punk rock era received their start and earliest exposure at the club, including the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie, and Joan Jett. During the New Wave era, performers like Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and even early performances from the Police graced the stage in the now legendary venue.

Located at 315 Bowery, which is situated near the northern section of Bowery before it splits into 3rd and 4th Avenues at Cooper square, the original building on the site was constructed in 1878 and was used as a tenement house for 10 families with a shop (liquor store) on the ground floor. In 1934, 315 and 313 were combined into one building and the façade was redesigned and constructed in the Art Deco style, as documented in the 1940 tax photo. At that time, the building was occupied by the Palace Hotel with a ground floor saloon. The building continued to function as a hotel, lodging house and saloon up until the CBGB was founded in 1973 and occupied the ground floor space.

The actual building itself is not necessarily architecturally/aesthetically significant, nor was it designed by a prominent architect. However, the buildings use as a tenement and lodging house as well as it’s later 20th century development as a music venue situate the property within the Bowery’s historic context as the center of New York’s working-class entertainment and theater. In 2013 the Bowery Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 315 Bowery was included as a contributing building to that district. It was the CBGB era (1973-2006) which is notable as the period of significance. They note in the Historic District report that CBGB “fostered new genres of American music. . .that defined the culture of downtown Manhattan in the 1970’s, and that still resonates today.”

I would contend that the cultural impact of CBGB on the development of American music is significant in providing a venue and outlet for these specifically American artforms. Much like the jazz nightclubs in NYC from the 40’s through the 60’s (mostly all lost now), CGBG provided a venue for these punk rock and new wave artists to work on, experiment with and share their music with a generation of listeners looking for a more raw and immediate experience. Like jazz, punk rock music is about the immediacy and emotion of the live performance. Having a venue like CBGB is a necessity for the genre to take hold and develop. The building/performance space is the vessel and, in many ways, the inspiration for this artistic development and is intimately related to the music itself. There is a fine line between preserving nostalgia for a place in time versus preserving something that has a deeper meaning to our shared culture. CBGB may represent a musical past that not many will remember or had been able to participate. But the legacy of the venue and the music sowed the seeds for future musical genres enjoyed by future generations of listeners.

The NYCLPC would, in my opinion, do well to designate 315 Bowery a Landmark and safeguard the city’s cultural heritage embodied in the now legendary music venue. Although the venue had been converted to a retail store in 2006, visitors still come to visit the site of the former rock club. Landmark status

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Christian Ricci Behind the Scenes in New York – Fall 2020 Assignment #1 October 05, 2020 would help to protect this attraction and promote further education about the City’s and America’s cultural music heritage.

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