Knitting Factory at Baker Falls

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To learn more about their collaboration, we chatted with Morgan Magolis, CEO of Knitting Factory, and Nick Bodor, Managing Partner at Knitting Factory, Baker Falls:

First off, where are you from? 
Morgan: I grew up in the East Village on East 6th Street between 1st and 2nd, then my parents moved down to Tribeca in the seventies. New York City was a whole different world back then. The East Village was not what it is today, so it’s always a trip for me when I go back

Could you give us the back story on how you got started?
Morgan: Both of my parents are actors, and I went to the High School Performing Arts and wanted to be an actor. In my early 20s, like every other actor in NYC, I started working in bars and restaurants while pursuing acting. But I was always a big fan of music, bar culture, and architectural design. Growing up in New York City, I was one of those kids who had a sense of wonderment walking around looking at buildings and design architecture. 

Fast forward a few years, I met my wife bartending, and we moved out to LA in the nineties. At that point, I decided I was burnt out from the grind of pursuing acting and pushed myself more into management. I was working at a music venue/comedy club/bar called Luna Park in West Hollywood and was brought over to the Knitting Factory in Hollywood in 1999, starting as the bar manager. At the time, they were trying to bring over the avant garde electric jazz scene to LA, and it wasn’t working. When I started, we had to make a lot of shifts. We found that tapping into the metal market, ska, Latin rock and roll was really popular at the time, and things really started to pump up from there.

I worked my way up from the bar, to Assistant GM, to GM and then VP of the West Coast. Then we started expanding, and we brought Knitting Factory to Boise, Spokane. Then I became VP of national and started overseeing Boise, NYC and the West Coast and eventually became CEO in 2008. Over the years, we built a 360 entertainment company – brick and mortar venues, big amphitheaters across the US, a music festival, a record label, and bars like Federal Bar in West Hollywood. 

Nick: When I was young, I grew up working in restaurants, but I was always a music fan, big indie music guy. When I was 18, I decided that by the time I’m 28, I want to own my own restaurant. So I moved to New York City with $1,200 in my pocket. I was always thinking about coffee and wound up getting into the coffee business. I had a sort of “coffee mentor” who took me under his wing. We found a vacant storefront across from Tompkins Square Park in 1995, and opened an internet coffee shop called alt.coffee, before “www.” even existed. alt.coffee was a very neighborhood place. We had couches and fuzzy lamps with baubles. Luckily it really resonated with people and I still meet people who tell me they met their significant other there or wrote a screenplay there.

I’ve always loved live music though and grew up going to Brownies and CBGB’s back in the day. So, after alt.coffee, I had this goal to have the best jukebox in New York City. So when we built The Library Bar, we got a jukebox and a year later we were voted the best jukebox in New York in the Village Voice. Then my brother and I decided we wanted to build a venue. We opened Cake Shop on Ludlow Street and had a great 14-year run. I basically just kind of kept going for music-centric, community-based brick and mortar spots that I want to hang out in. That really started forming all my hospitality philosophies. 

Once Covid hit, I was like, “How can I get back to owning another venue? How can I make this happen?” I heard that Pyramid Club was closing and started doing some detective work, putting some feelers out to my network, and that’s how Knitting Factory got involved. 

That’s amazing. Tell us more about how the Knitting Factory at Baker Falls came about.
Morgan: We had been in Brooklyn since 2009, and our landlord bumped our rent up by 50% forcing us to close, which happens all the time to venues. 

Then I had lunch with Nick, who told me he had an opportunity to take over the old Pyramid Club, and I was like, ‘Well, man, I did some stupid shit in that club when I was a teenager.’ I said, I’d love to get back to the original roots of Knitting Factory, to the house and street roots, the nitty gritty of what it was, and I know Nick wanted to do something with Cake Shop, and he had this Baker Falls concept. So we decided to do it together with a focus on getting back to the roots of New York City, being part of the community and delivering some great music. 

It’s awesome that you joined forces. What would you say is like the mission of the venue?
Morgan: I think the mission is to be immersively and culturally important to Manhattan again, to bring the Knitting Factory brand back to New York, but my mission is always about the experience. To bring an incredible experience from the front door person, in the bar, to the music and the artist. 

What was the first concert at Knitting Factory at Baker Falls? 
Nick: Sunflower Bean was technically the grand opening. Before that, a friend of ours, Jesse Rifkin, wrote a book called This Must Be the Place, and we did his book release. Dany Johnson, who used to be a DJ at the Pyramid Club, spun downstairs, and that was actually our first show. Our “soft opening.”

Do you specialize in certain genres?
Nick: We want talented people. We’re definitely indie, psyche, soul, some pop, but really anything as long as it’s good.

What is one of your favorite memories from here so far? 
Nick: Sunflower Bean was one of them. I’m definitely a fan, they had played at Cake Shop when they were just starting, and it’s great to watch bands like that grow. We also had Les Savy Fav who were Knitting Factory’s very first band at the Brooklyn location. The fact that they played there and then here was really amazing. 

What would you say is the biggest obstacle that you faced?
Nick: It’s a beast, you know, as is anything in Manhattan right now, unfortunately. It’s this fine line between being a neighborhood spot and artist friendly but paying our bills. We have a 15 year lease, which was something that we really pushed for. We want to be that next great kind of institution.

Do you serve food?
Nick: Yes. We want to be a place where you can have something to eat and have a meeting in the afternoon. We put tables out and have Wi-Fi. We also have an espresso machine and can do these amazing espresso martinis, hot spiked cider, chai and all this stuff that you don’t see at other places.

What is your favorite drink on your bar menu?  
Nick: The Lizard Wizard, named after King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. It’s like a cold brew old fashioned, and it’s a draft cocktail. We’re really excited to have this really solid draft. We’ve got four draft cocktails and we have a non-alcoholic mule. That’s another big part of what we’re doing here is to have a big NA program. We want to be a safe space for all people to come and have a good time.

What was the first concert you ever went to? 
Morgan: Talking Heads in Central Park in high school. 
Nick: The first big show I ever saw was Rush. 

Connect with Knitting Factory at Baker Falls on instagram and on their website.

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