Old Fourth Ward performance venue’s entrance goes ‘future retro’ under new management.
The Music Room, an underground bar and live music venue, unveiled a new storefront Friday. The music venue’s new look is part of a rebranding effort under Room’s new management.
The owners of Pizzeria Vesuvius and Edgewood Speakeasy, an adjacent pizza joint and bar, took the space over May 1, Keiran Neely (@DJKeiran on Twitter), one of the guys behind the three concepts, told What Now Atlanta (WNA) in a telephone interview Friday.
“It was our original intention to take over The Music Room with a brand new name, brand new concept, brand new everything,” Neely said. “We decided to keep and maintain the space as a music venue, with music as the main focus.”
The idea behind Room’s new concept is the “future retro utilization of analog media and playback devices,” Neely said. The giant boombox storefront is just one component of the reconceptualization of The Music Room. The entire space will be renovated and upgraded to reflect the new concept.
William Mitchell, local sign painter, created the new storefront.
“The boombox will be to Edgewood Avenue what the Vortex Skull is to Little 5 Points,” Mitchell said.
Room will have live music Sunday through Thursday with a focus on local indie and alternative rock. DJs will spin at the music venue Friday and Saturday nights.
What do you think of the new facade? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
6 Responses
sikk
Brilliant addition to Edgewood Avenue and the City of Atlanta.
WORLD CLASS
The storefront along with the renovations makes the Music Room EASILY one of the coolest spots anywhere. Kudos to Keiran, Alex, Mike and of course William in a job well done!
You don’t know Keiran Neely, Mike LaSage and Alex Friedman?…….well you don’t know anybody then!
*sips tea*
That is… literal.
I love seeing under-utilized areas like the Old Fourth Ward, and Edgewood Avenue in particular, become bastions of creative expression and entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, the City of Atlanta can’t seem to get out of its own way to let this type of creativity flourish. The Department of Planning and Community Development (Office of Buildings) has recently placed a moratorium on window-mounted signs. Under this new moratorium (and potential pending legislation), the Music Room’s creative use of window space would be deemed illegal, even though it is all contained on the INTERIOR of the space.
The basic language of the moratorium stipulates, pursuant to Ordinance # 13-O-1211, the Director of Office of Buildings is hereby ordered to place a condition on any building being used for commercial purposes, that no sign inside of a building which exceeds six square feet shall be displayed through any window or door in a manner whereby such sign is visible from the public right of way.
Way to squelch creativity, individuality and freedom of expression, City of Atlanta.