The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy.

History

The Knitting Factory was opened as a nightclub in 1987 by Michael Dorf and Louis Spitzer, although Bob Appel replaced Spitzer later in 1987. The original location was in Manhattan on Houston Street, almost equidistant between CBGB and the Bottom Line. Initially, the venue was meant to be an art gallery with a performance space and cafe, as well as a home for experimental music. The club quickly emerged as a home for the sounds that did not neatly fit into the categories of jazz or rock. Artists including Sonic Youth, Sound of Urchin, Cassandra Wilson, Gil Scott Heron, Yo La Tengo, Carl Hancock Rux, Cecil Taylor, Cluster, Tim Berne, John Zorn, The Lounge Lizards, Bobby Previte, and Bill Frisell played there. The musicians who would end up forming the band Soul Coughing first met at the Knitting Factory, where Mike Doughty, who would become the lead singer, worked as a doorman. Soul Coughing played many of their early shows there.