Our Wicked Lady in Bushwick has everything you’d expect from a great independent music venue: the sound system is good, the tickets are cheap, and the space has enough grit to make you feel welcome.
“We were doing great shows on the roof, but it was kind of held together by spit, sweat and chewing gum,” said co-owner Zach Glass. “But the sound was always where we put the money, so the sound was always good.”
After facing mounting financial challenges in the wake of the pandemic, OWL is at risk of shutting down for good. Owners Glass and Keith Hamilton are fighting to preserve a cornerstone of Bushwick’s independent music scene.
The pair has launched a GoFundMe campaign, seeking $65,000 to keep the venue afloat while they search for a buyer committed to continuing OWL’s mission.
With a capacity of around 200, OWL has long served as an inviting space where up-and-coming bands can test their skills and hone their craft before taking on larger stages.
“ Those rooms are disappearing in New York, and just in terms of the music scene, it’s a huge impact to have there be less stepping stones,” Glass told Brooklyn Paper. “We’ve had a lot of bands really use our venue to get to the next step.”
When local band SKORTS formed a few years ago, OWL was one of the first venues they played.
“There’s something just really particularly accessible, and welcoming, and encouraging about Our Wicked Lady,” said SKORTS bassist Emma Welch, “and I don’t know what would fill that vacuum.”
Last year, SKORTS won OWL’s Battle of the Bands competition, defeating 15 other local bands.
But, Welch said, it was about more than the music.
“It’s also a great bar where people would just go to chill,” she said. “It’s a family; it’s a home where people want to have a good time together and a transformative time together.”
It took nearly a decade for the venue to become what it is today.
Glass and Hamilton first met while working as managers at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg. They teamed up with the idea to open a bar and venue with rehearsal spaces for bands to book.
The co-owners started with a space that was nothing short of a fixer-upper — OWL started as an unfinished warehouse.
“It had dirt floors, no plumbing, no electricity,” said Glass.
Despite the humble start, OWL established itself as a popular nightlife spot for music lovers wanting to hear live music and bands working hard to break into the greater New York City music scene. By early 2020, the venue had achieved a newfound sense of financial stability, but the pandemic left its mark with lingering challenges.

OWL wasn’t the only nightlife venue struggling in 2020. Owners of other spots like Baby’s All Right, The Stand NYC, Paul Italia, and Elsewhere pushed for the Save Our Stages Act, hoping it would support spaces during the lockdown. The bill was eventually passed as part of a larger COVID-19 relief package.
But business at OWL hasn’t been the same. Owners have noticed a trend affecting many small businesses: people are going out fewer times a week, spending less, and heading home earlier.
“We used to be the kind of venue that, before COVID, we’d say, ‘Hey, it’s six in the morning, you have to leave.’ Now, we’re kind of like, ‘Hey, it’s only two in the morning, please stay for a little bit,'” Glass said. “But people are still coming out to see the shows.”
Despite the higher cost of doing business, the desire to see live music has not gone away.
“ There’s still a vibrant scene. There’s still amazing music being made. There’s still great people going to see those bands. But then they’re just not staying as long afterwards,” Glass said.

Despite the venue’s rocky financial streak, Vincent Black Shadow, a musician and bartender at OWL, warns against counting the venue — and its owners — out just yet.
“ It has weathered many a storm, literal and figurative,” said Black Shadow. “The whole thing, it’s a battle, you know, but those guys are experienced battlers.”
Fundraising efforts extend beyond the GoFundMe.
Favorite Friend Records has assembled a vinyl and digital album, Save Our Wicked Lady, a charity compilation featuring 16 local artists to raise funds for OWL. All proceeds from the album will benefit the venue.
OWL will also host a Save OWL Epic Fundraising Show on Feb. 1 and 2 at its Morgan Avenue space from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Our Wicked Lady is located at 153 Morgan Ave., between Scholes and Meserole streets. For more information, visit ourwickedlady.com.