Two New Rental Darkrooms in Brooklyn This Month

Brownstoner, a Brooklyn real estate blog, has published two stories in the last several days about new rental darkrooms open in in the Brooklyn (NY) neighborhoods of Gowanus:

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2015/02/community-darkroom-opens-in-gowanus/


and Bushwick:


http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/201...om-moving-to-bigger-space-on-troutman-street/


Both neighborhoods are heavily populated with young artistic types. I find this very encouraging–it bodes well for the continued availability of film, paper, and chemicals.


Bob Marvin

This is interesting.

The last rental darkroom in Dallas closed several years ago. Just two days ago, I was contacted by the only local store that sells darkroom supplies and asked if I rented my darkroom space. Um, no; it's at my residence. But, I can see where one might work if there was an entrepreneur (it won't be me).

There is a local non-profit org that has all kinds of shop space, electronics labs, milling machines, 3D printers, etc., and they originally had a darkroom only because someone donated equipment to them. The outfit runs on membership fees where a member has 24/7 access to everything. The org has been so successful, that it moved to much larger facilities, but I don't think the darkroom went with them. It's no longer listed on their website. I've asked, but not gotten an answer. Honestly, at the old place, I offered to help them "do it right", but they thought they knew what they were doing.

The canal is a good place for a darkroom. No one will notice the smell of the chemicals.

Thanks for posting this. I've known about Bushwick Community Darkroom from when they had shows at their earlier space. I'm glad to see that they are still going, as well as finding out about a new darkroom in Gowanus.

I'd also like to plug my friends at My Own Color Lab in Manhattan, which is one of the oldest rental darkrooms in the country. Despite their name, they have a black and white room that is quite nice.

Tim