Lit Lounge was a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in the East Village neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The two-floor complex housed a concert venue, lounge, dance floor, and Fuse Gallery, an art exhibition space. Lit Lounge was noted as a major venue for New York City's hipster subculture in the mid- to late 2000s, particularly the

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

and

electroclash Electroclash (also known as synthcore, retro-electro, tech-pop, nouveau disco, and the new new wave) is a genre of music that fuses 1980s electro, new wave and synth-pop with 1990s techno, retro-style electropop and electronic dance music. It ...

scene of the era.

History

Lit Lounge was owned by Erik Foss and David Schwartz, who worked at East Village and

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. ...

-area bars throughout the 1990s. Lit opened on February 22, 2002, while Fuse Gallery opened on March 16, 2002, with an exhibition of works by

H.R. Giger Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...

. Lit quickly became a major venue for New York's hipster subculture, particularly the

and

scene of the era. It was among the first New York clubs to embrace European DJs in the mashup genre such as

Soulwax Soulwax are an electronic band from Ghent, Belgium. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor Cavalera and Stefaan Van Leuven. They were first noticed after the release of their album '' Much Against Ev ...

and

Erol Alkan Erol Alkan (born 30 May 1974) is an English DJ and producer of Turkish Cypriot descent. He grew up in Archway in North London. Career DJ and club promoter In 1993, Erol Alkan started DJing in various indie nightclubs in London. His fir ...

, along with post-hardcore artists such as Sergio Vega of

Quicksand Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that los ...

. Lit declined in popularity after The Beatrice Inn converted into a nightclub in 2006, though enjoyed a resurgence after Beatrice was shut down in 2009. In 2010 the bar was the subject of protests during a request for a license transfer for a new venture, in which local residents claimed Lit frequently played music past 4 a.m. on weekends and contributed to crowding on sidewalks. Lit withdrew their transfer request in response, and committed to hiring additional security and installing additional soundproofing material. Fuse Gallery closed on August 6, 2013, citing financial difficulties. On July 8, 2015, Foss and Schwartz announced that Lit Lounge would close "within the next two months." Rising rents and the changing social scene of the East Village were cited as primary reasons for the closure, with the majority of Lit Lounge's clients having migrated to the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

neighborhoods of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg. Lit Lounge abruptly closed on July 30, 2015, following an incident in which a 34-year-old teacher at Léman Manhattan Preparatory School was alleged to have had sex with a 16-year-old student in the bathroom at Lit Lounge. In December 2015, the gay bar

The Cock The Cock is a gay dive bar in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is noted for its exhibitionist atmosphere and popularity as a cruising destination. Opened in 1998, the venue has been described by ''them.'' maga ...

moved into the space at 93 Second Avenue formerly occupied by Lit Lounge. Foss and Schwartz announced plans to reopen Lit Lounge at a location in the McKibbin Street Lofts in

East Williamsburg, Brooklyn East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Plac ...

, that was at the time occupied by the Currant Cafe, a restaurant they opened in March 2014. The venue opened as a nightclub under the name Tilt in December 2016, which closed in February 2019.

Reception and legacy

AM New York Metro ''AM New York Metro'' is a free daily newspaper that is published in New York City by Schneps Media. According to the company, the average Friday circulation in September 2013 was 335,900. When launched on October 10, 2003, ''AM New York'' was th ...

'' described Lit Lounge as "the nexus of cool people and indie bands in the early-mid 2000s." The club attracted numerous celebrities as patrons, including Chloë Sevigny,

Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film '' New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her ro ...

, and

The Strokes The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Mor ...

. Notable artists who performed or exhibited at Lit include actors

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywoo ...

and

Leo Fitzpatrick Leonardo Aurellio Randy Fitzpatrick is an American actor and co-director of the Marlborough Chelsea gallery. He is best known as Telly in '' Kids'' (1995) and Johnny Weeks in ''The Wire'' (2002–2004). Career He was discovered at age 14 by ...

; photographers

Ryan McGinley Ryan McGinley (born October 17, 1977) is an American photographer living in New York City. McGinley began making photographs in 1998. In 2003, at the age of 25, he was one of the youngest artists to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of Ameri ...

and

Mick Rock Michael David Rock (born Michael Edward Chester Smith; 21 November 1948 – 18 November 2021) was a British photographer. He photographed rock music acts such as Queen, David Bowie, Waylon Jennings, T. Rex, Syd Barrett, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop ...

; filmmaker Spike Jonze; and musicians

Karen O Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978) is a South Korean-born American singer, musician, and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist for the indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Early life She was born in Seoul, South Korea, the daughter of a Ko ...

Nick Zinner Nicholas Joseph Zinner (born December 8, 1974) is an American guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a record producer. Zinner is an accomplished photographer. Musical career Before forming the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs with Karen O and ...

David Yow David Yow (born August 2, 1960) is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard. Yow's debut solo album, '' Tonight You Look Like a Spider'', w ...

, and

James Iha (born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years ...

. Writer Cat Marnell, a regular at Lit Lounge, described the club as "such a piece-of-shit place in the best way possible" and "like '' Cheers'' ... but with PCP and vodka." Several music videos were filmed at Lit, including "Rich Girl" by

The Virgins The Virgins were an American indie rock band formed in 2006 in New York City. The band split up in November 2013. History 2006–2007: Formation Frontman Donald Cumming began writing music by himself in his New York apartment. He then recruited ...

and "Boy Boy" by Lissy Trullie.

References

External links

Official website
(defunct, link via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

)
"Nick Zinner and Company Celebrate Ten Years of Lit"
retrospective video by ''The Local East Village'' (via

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...

)
Music video for "Rich Girl"
by

, filmed at Lit Lounge (via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

) {{East Village, Manhattan 2002 establishments in New York City 2015 disestablishments in New York (state) East Village, Manhattan Cultural history of New York City Former music venues in New York City Nightclubs in Manhattan Second Avenue (Manhattan)