DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — IN THE LATE 1870s, entertainment impresario Alexander R. Samuells brought the concert-garden craze to Brooklyn with the Mozart Concert Garden, located at Fulton and Smith streets, Brownstoner relates, in a look back at the borough’s history. Modeled after Manhattan’s Gilmore’s Concert Garden, it opened in 1877 as an elegant beer hall with live classical performances by Emil Seifert’s orchestra. Audiences, however, favored popular music and variety acts. Within weeks, Samuells rebranded it as “Brooklyn’s London Music Hall,” featuring dancers, acrobats, and even “scientific” boxing exhibitions.

The 1877 Brooklyn Eagle remarked upon the venue’s opening day , “Many ladies were present, most of them, however, being Germans.”

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