Our Wicked Lady (OWL), a cornerstone of Bushwick’s independent music scene, is facing imminent closure. The bar and venue, which opened in July 2015, has become a cultural institution, known for its dedication to the community, its authentic vibe, and its support for local artists. However, like many independent venues, Our Wicked Lady has been struggling with the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This place means so much to so many of us, and I really don’t know where we would be without it,” said Sam Sumpter of Bands do BK, in an interview with Our Wicked Lady’s owners for this fundraising effort. Sumpter, who has frequented the venue, discussed the challenges of running an independent venue with owners Zach Glass and Keith Hamilton.
“There’s just… I don’t know if people necessarily realize how many people, with any business really, but particularly with venues, the margins are so thin,” Keith Hamilton shared. He explained that venues must deal with rent, astronomical insurance costs, payroll, stock, and utilities, which have recently skyrocketed. “So at the end of the day, if you can break even or turn a little bit of a profit, you’re doing well,” Hamilton added.
Pre-COVID, these issues were already challenging, but now, the situation has become critical. “We totally understand how you could come to a club, you pay 15 bucks to get in, you see, the place is relatively busy, you must think everything is going great. But what you wouldn’t think about is that that 15 bucks you pay, that’s not really going to the club,” explained Zach Glass. “That’s going to be paying the sound person and the door person, and then whatever’s left is going to the bands,” he added. The primary way the venue makes money is through drink sales. However, post-COVID, their insurance costs tripled, creating a significant financial burden for the venue. “We can’t triple the cost of our drinks because we want to be a community centered venue,” Glass said.
Our Wicked Lady was also forced to stop hosting all-ages events due to increased insurance costs. “If we wanted to continue to do all these events, it would be $55,000 more a year for insurance,” Hamilton says, explaining that without that coverage, they would have no legal protection if a minor was injured on the premises. “So now we’re a 21 plus venue. And I mean, we both have kids,” Hamilton shared. “We were doing rock shows for kids and, you know, obviously also 18 year olds want a place to be able to go and see a show and they should have that opportunity. We can’t accommodate it.”.
Adding to the financial strain, Keith Hamilton noted, “…there was maybe not even quite a year of a boost with nightlife where everyone’s like, I’m fucking out again. I can go do things, but then it’s sort of dipped back down where people just aren’t going out as much as they used to.” He added that people are not going to shows as much, staying out late, or drinking as much. According to Glass, even alcohol companies are seeing a significant decrease in sales. The increase in delivery culture developed during the pandemic is contributing to less people going out to local businesses.
Despite these challenges, Our Wicked Lady has remained a vital part of the community. “Without places to play, bands aren’t playing, there’s no places to see shows. The stages are so, so important,” says Sumter. “And I personally can’t imagine New York without places like Our Wicked Lady. It’s just the scene would collapse,” she added. The venue has hosted a variety of events, including the Sunday Soul Scream series with Jonathan Toubin, hip-hop dance parties, activist fundraisers, and the annual Winter Madness Tournament. “Pre-COVID, we were the kind of place that was like, hey dude, it’s 5 AM you gotta get out of here,” said Zach Glass. “And now we’re like, hey man, it’s 2 AM, can you please stay for a couple more?”. That loss of revenue in the late night hours is a significant loss for the venue.
During the pandemic, Our Wicked Lady pivoted to survive, offering sidewalk pop-up shows, table service on the roof, and limited seated shows inside. “When we had to pivot, like you’re going to have table service with them and double the amount of staff that we normally have because we didn’t normally have serving like people serving at the table. So now you had to have a bartender and a server,” Glass explained. “So it was just like, we’ll do what we have to do. These are the new rules. Let’s get to the next week. We’re on it. We’re going to make this. And by the end of the day, you suddenly realized, whoa, we’ve been operating now on these new, like, semi-open rules. And we were just hemorrhaging money,” Glass told Bushwick Daily.
“And getting all these things in really made us realize how, important we were to the community that sometimes you take for granted because you’re just in work mode all the time,” Keith Hamilton shared. “But the thing is, I think the damage that Covid has done is going to last. […] there’s a lot of invisible factors coming into play. And it’s been really hard to kind of get ahead since then for sure,” he added.
Our Wicked Lady is now at a critical juncture. “We need to either sell Our Wicked Lady to someone who shares our vision and we’ll continue our place in the community, or we could bring in a partner to help us through this,” Glass said, noting the urgent need for support. To keep their doors open a little longer, they have launched a GoFundMe campaign. “We need your help to keep the doors open as long as possible, or Our Wicked Lady is going to close forever.”
“What I would say is find the places that you love, the things that you love…those things that you care about, that you want to last, you need to support them,” Keith Hamilton said, emphasizing the importance of community support. He encouraged people to “get out, not only to help the business, I think also for our own mental health… be around other human beings, be inspired by other people, go have an amazing meal or see a great band and let those things push you”. “If there are places that you love and you still are struggling in your life and maybe don’t have the time to go to every show you want to do and do all those things, just be aware of it,” Zach Glass added, “Let me just even swing by and grab a beer, a cocktail, a soda, something, these places need your money because that’s how this works”.
Keith Hamilton highlighted the venue’s role in the larger arts community, “I mean, it’s not just about us running this place or owning this place. We have managers, we have bartenders, bar backs, door people, sound people that rely on this place. And then in addition, you have all the musicians and artists that need places to, to start and grow.” He added that smaller venues like Our Wicked Lady are vital to supporting the arts. “To see people putting in the work and, and musicians meeting each other and, and growing and someone jumps in another band and just the whole community, you know, I mean, you’re a huge part of this community. There’s something so special about that, about being around artists and watching them grow and thrive,” Hamilton explained.
“Without venues like us, bands have no place to grow,” said Zach Glass, “Without rooms like this, the New York City music scene as we know it will vanish,” he added. If local venues close, “then there’s less affordable places for new bands to go buy equipment and there’s less places for them to play. So maybe there aren’t as many new bands coming up… Then there’s less music, like it all starts to ripple”. Without these small local venues, New York is at risk of becoming a “giant strip mall,” as Sumpter stated, rather than a city full of unique, locally-owned businesses.
“If you’re on your way home and you know you’re going to pass Our Wicked Lady, and you like Our Wicked Lady, even if you just stop in for a beer. That sounds silly, but if everyone in New York City bought a beer at Our Wicked Lady today, we’d be doing great, you know?” Keith Hamilton says. “And honestly, you can also tell your friends about the places you love. If you see a great show come up, share it or post about it or something. Even if you can’t come out. All these things add up to helping the arts, you know, and I think the arts are more important than ever because it brings diverse people together in a beautiful, positive way,” he concluded.
Our Wicked Lady is asking for the community’s support to help keep their doors open while they seek a buyer or partner. All donations to their GoFundMe campaign will go towards supporting the venue and their rehearsal spaces.
If you want to help save Our Wicked Lady, you can donate to their GoFundMe, share the fundraiser, or stop by for a drink or show.
Let us know your favorite memories of Our Wicked Lady in the comments below!
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