The CULTURE PAGES
GowanusRec CenterAll day and all night at Public
Records, a music venue and vegan
entertainment complex.By MADISON MALONE KIRCHERtoday, from early morning
until late at night, it’s full of Brook-
lyn vegans in bucket hats and wire-
rimmed glasses sporting microbangs—
people with a stated preference for vinyl, oat
milk, and natural wine. The 6,000-square-
foot music venue and hangout spot Public
Records, at 233 Butler Street in Gowanus,
was once full of stray cats. For decades, it
was home to the ASPCA, but, after a few
intervening tenants, it has been trans-
formed into a sort of postindustrial student
union for postcollegiate human strays
looking for a way to spend their days. It
opens with coffee and Wi-Fi at 9 a.m. for
impromptu co-working, and on the week-
ends, it keeps going till four in the morning
with avant-garde music and $15 signature
cocktails (Mezcal Melon, made with water-
melon, Aperol, and Thai basil, is a house
favorite). You can buy records and exotic
print magazines there and see the people
you’d normally find on your location-
specific dating app in real life.
Founded by Francis Harris, Erik
VanderWal, and Shane Davis, Public
Records opened in April. “I was in the mid-
western hardcore scene, and we would
hang out in these spaces where it would be
like a soup-kitchen bookstore during the
day, and then a bunch of hardcore bands
would play at night. It felt kind of like an
all-day, all-night space,” says Harris, who
oversees the music (VanderWal is in charge
of the food and drink, and Davis the look
and branding). “It’s one of the big inspira-
tions for Public Records, this idea that you
can experience different music in different
contexts or at different parts of the day.”
Zither and autoharp legend Laraaji per-
formed a rare live show in June. Wednes-
days are for jazz. Sundays are for reggae.
This particular weekend’s selections
included a Friday night of DJ-ing from
New York staples Justin Miller, Jacques
Renault, and Nick Mercer. On Saturday
afternoon, Harris hosts and performs at
the “Ambient Cafe.” He’s joined by two
66 new york | august 19–september 1, 2019 Photographs by David Williams