Come celebrate the holidays with us at our Ugly Sweater Karaoke + Rent Party on Saturday December 17th. Wear an ugly/festive holiday sweater and come sing & party with us for one of our last weekends on Nostrand Ave. A $25 donation is suggested, however, feel free to give more if your pockets allow! Proceeds will go towards closing out rent payment in our current location.

What is the history of a rent party? During the early nineteen twenties when cheap industrial labor was in high demand, it’s estimated that more than 200,000 African Americans migrated to Harlem, mostly fresh from the cotton-picking fields of the Deep South. They were segregated in a small section of Manhattan where as many as five to seven thousand people would have been known to live in a single block. Upon their arrival, the Harlem property owners cranked up the rent higher than anywhere else in New York and profited greatly while families piled on top of each other in very unwholesome living spaces. Rents were doubled and tripled by their landlords. Tenants under pressure had to come up with ways to pay off their increasing debts and help out friends in need. Organizing social occasions was a way of escape from a monotonous, humdrum week of low-income labor and inviting people over as paying party guests before the landlord’s monthly visit was a happy; ‘timely thought’. Everyone had a good time and it cost less than attending any public entertainment venues. It proved such a fun and easy way to pay the rent that it became an overnight rage and the Harlem Rent Party was born.