‘End of an era’: Our Wicked Lady closing after 10 years

Despite a strong community push to save beloved East Williamsburg venue and rehearsal space, Our Wicked Lady, it will shutter on July 21, the week of its 10th anniversary.

“ It's been one of the great privileges of my life to open and run Our Wicked Lady and be a focal point for this community,” said co-owner Zach Glass. “I know that I'm really gonna miss it. I know the scene is gonna miss it and I hope that it stays in people's minds as an example of going for your dreams.”

Glass opened Our Wicked Lady in 2015 with Keith Hamilton, whom he’d met while they were both bartenders at Brooklyn Bowl.

The venue, located at 153 Morgan Ave., was previously a single-story construction storage space.

“ When we got our building, it was, like, a dirt floor downstairs,” recalled Glass. “There was no staircase to the roof. There was hardly any plumbing or electricity – it was just one big, huge space. We just, we had to do everything.”

Over the years, it became a central hub for New York’s indie music scene, offering a stage and practice space to up-and-coming bands.

The King Khan & BBQ Show, The Budos Band, Thee Sacred Souls, Bass Drum of Death – well-known groups in the indie soul and rock scenes – have all played Our Wicked Lady over the years and up-and-coming groups The Thing, SKORTS and Dead Tooth all got their start there.

In recent years, though, Glass and Hamilton said that though the space has remained a focal point for the city’s indie music scene, costs have gone up, insurance has more than doubled and patrons (especially younger ones) are showing up less, drinking less, shying away from pricier cocktails and leaving earlier.

“It's just gotten so expensive and, you know, people just don't go out as much. They don't drink as much. All those factors come into play,” Hamilton said.

Despite a flood of support and press this winter, including raising $42,000 through a GoFundMe, Glass and Hamilton decided to call it in May, announcing on Instagram that the building’s landlord had thwarted a sale of the club to another owner.

“Our landlord decided he does not want a music venue to continue on his property and refused a near sale,” they wrote.”

Fans are devastated.

“Keith and Zach created a safe space for anyone and everyone to exist together, playing music, dancing the night away and having a laugh,” said Andrew Dell Isola, who worked his way through various jobs at the venue to become its final bar manager. He also had his first date with his now fiancée at Our Wicked Lady; the pair had planned to have their wedding there next year, but when they learned it was closing, they chose to have an engagement party there this past weekend.

It’s “definitely the end of an era. Definitely the end of a scene,” said Zachary James Ellis, a longtime patron and performer at the space, who said the venue closing feels like “losing a huge community” as he’s unsure where his fellow regulars will go now.

“It’s been incredible watching it grow into a cornerstone of the New York music scene,” said Mike Brandon, whose band Mystery Lights were the first group to ever play at Our Wicked Lady. “It’s absolutely tragic watching it go.”