NIGHTLIFE: For Theater, Music And Basketball, Bridge And Tunnel Traffic Now Flows Towards Brooklyn

BROOKLYN (NYC) NY: When the impresario Harvey Lichtenstein transformed the forlorn Brooklyn Academy of Music into the popular and influential BAM in the 1980s, it was—and long remained—an outlier in a cultural desert for live entertainment.

Brooklyn had few live music or comedy venues and little in the way of prestige theater. The borough didn’t even have professional baseball.

The Dodgers left following the 1957 season, and the minor league Cyclones didn’t arrive until 2001.

These days, BAM remains a centerpiece of the Brooklyn Cultural District, which includes Theatre for a New Audience, the Mark Morris Dance Center and the Irondale Center. 

Meanwhile, the Barclays Center, a concert arena to rival Madison Square Garden and home to the Brooklyn Nets. 

Resorts World Casino New York City, which has a big sponsorship presence at Barclays 

It’s not just theater or big music venues; smaller clubs are gaining a foothold.

Notable clubs and theaters have opened in the past decade in Gowanus (Littlefield), Park Slope (Union Hall), Dumbo (St. Ann’s Warehouse), East Williamsburg (Brooklyn Steel) and Williamsburg (Brooklyn Bowl, Music Hall of Williamsburg).

Expect growth to continue as the borough’s reputation continues to soar. 

While Brooklyn is still competing with venues in Manhattan for artists and audiences, many feel the entertainment pie continues to expand in the Big Apple.