Littlefield, the performance space located at 635 Sackett St. in Gowanus, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a week-and-a-half-long festival that featured live music, comedy shows and dance parties.
“We couldn’t fit all our history and programing into one week; there were so many people we wanted to work with,” said co-owner Julie Kim. “We hoped we covered all the genres. That week and a half should capture the essence of Littlefield.”
The venue was originally a dream for Kim and her business partner Scott Koshnoodi, who both shared a love for music and had great experiences with the music scene in Austin, Texas, in the 1990s. The duo first met in engineering school and met again at a consulting firm where they worked as environmental engineers.
“We opened officially in 2009 at the peak of the Great Recession. It was really tough and a big challenge for us because we were new to do this and new to a neighborhood that was predominantly industrial – we were one of the first commercial spaces to come in,” explained Kim, who grew up in New York. “There was no foot traffic so we really had to adapt. What our original vision for the space was to initially just showcase live music, but without the foot traffic here it was really difficult to compete with the larger, more established music venues.”
So they switched gears and began hosting comedy shows, which seemed to resonate with the Gowanus neighborhood. Their goal was to do something weekly and team up with individuals who were just as hungry to succeed as they were.
Littlefield hosted “Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen” for two years, which did really well. Then they brought on comedian Wyatt Cenac to take over, after his four years as a correspondent and writer with “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
Now they have “Butterboy” with Jo Firestone, Aparna Nancherla & Maeve Higgins every Monday night. While Littlefield became known for comedy, they also host live music shows and other programming that wouldn’t be found in a typical music venue. For example, they host “Punderdome” (competitive spontaneous pun-making), “Drunk Science” (when intoxicated comedians compete to present the best scientific dissertation to real scientists), “Mortified” (telling embarrassing, horrific childhood stories to strangers), and “Dig Deeper” (bringing back 1960s/1970s soul singers and bands).
“Littlefield morphed into a destination, rather than just a neighborhood venue,” Kim said. “I love that we are not only known for comedy but as a place where we can nurture talent and get to see some of these really amazing performers in all mediums come through.”
The celebration concluded with comedian Kurt Braunohler. Kim said she saw Braunohler and Kristen Schaal grow each week at Littlefield as they perfected their craft before taking their comedy show to California.
In an interview, Braunohler reminisced about his time there, explaining how he and his comedy partner Schaal had been looking for a new home for their show “Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen” when they found the Gowanus venue.
“We both just fell in love with the space and then we ended up running our show there two full years before moving to L.A. It was tough because when we moved to L.A., we wanted to find a place that was exactly like Littlefield – that just doesn’t exist.”
Braunohler, who was also the comedy consultant and an actor in the 2017 rom-com The Big Sick, noted that all the stand-up comedy scenes were filmed at Littlefield.
With 10 years officially in the history books for Kim and Koshnoodi, they hope to further elevate Littlefield in its new location with both new and old musical acts, in addition to the comedy.
“We’ve really been pushing live music because we have noticed a shift in nightlife and live music, especially in South Brooklyn. We’re trying to bring that back and trying to create a community for musicians,” Kim told us. “We’re trying to encompass the whole notion of truly being a performing arts space. We always want to give everyone an amazing experience, regardless of what they’re there to see.”
Top photo from the David Bowie Tribute Party in 2019. Photo credit to Tucker W. Mitchell.
Author
George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.
