Bowery Ballroom

The story

Built to be a high-end shoe store and haberdashery just before the 1929 Wall Street crash, 6 Delancey Street stood vacant until the end of World War II, then slowly faded with its neighborhood. In 1998, Michael Swier, Michael Winsch, and Brian Swier fully renovated the building into the Bowery Ballroom, their second venue after the Mercury Lounge. The founders' goals centered on quality of sound. It worked. In 2013, Rolling Stone industry insiders named it the best club in America — intimate and grand, with great sound and sightlines, and old-school class — all for 575 people.