DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — THE BROOKLYN PARAMOUNT OFFICIALLY opened its doors to the public this week with the venue’s first live performance featuring Grammy Award-winning Brothers Damian & Stephen Marley on their inaugural co-headlining Traffic Jam Tour 2024. Brooklyn Paramount’s Grand Opening marks a significant milestone for the venue, showcasing a multi-million-dollar redesign and honoring the building’s nearly 100-year history. A team of experts in restoration, design and venue operations collaborated to create a completely unique experience for both artists and fans. The Paramount is destined to become another important anchor of the Brooklyn Cultural District, further fulfilling the vision for a nightlife and theater district born in the Bloomberg Administration for Downtown Brooklyn. One of the most diverse Cultural Districts in the country, the area now encompasses venues as diverse as BRIC and BAM to Theater for a New Audience, The Center for Fiction and Barclays Center.

Among the dignitaries speaking at the Grand Opening and ribbon-cutting were Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), NYC Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Laurie Cumbo, and longtime Congressmember Yvette Clarke (D-9).

The 1,700-person venue first opened in November 1928 as a movie theater. It has hosted legendary jazz, early rock n’ roll and R&B artists, including Buddy Holly & The Crickets, Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Little Richard, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, and many, more. In the decades since its closing in 1962, the venue had been utilized as a gymnasium by Long Island University.