J - Music On Long Island - Historical Venues - LibGuides at Freeport Memorial Library

Jamroc

Undated exterior photo of former venue:

45-47 Main St, Hempstead, NY 11550 | Zillow

Jamroc (sometimes written as Jamrock) was a venue located at 45 Main Street in Hempstead, New York. It often featured notable hip-hop, reggae and R&B performers. Video footage of M.O.P. performing "Ante Up" at this venue can be found here.

Event flyer from venue:

Skadanks | 4/20 1997 edition📍 Celebrating Big Youth's Birthday at Jamrock in Hempstead with Yami Bolo and Junior Reed. @big_youth_theoriginal... | Instagram

M.O.P. in action at the venue circa 2000:

Make Hip-Hop Great Again M.O.P. performing “Ante Up” at Jamroc Nightclub in Hempstead, NY (2000)

Sources:

https://www.instagram.com/hip_hophistorian/reel/DHM7eUCM1X0/?locale=cadastre%2Be%2Bganhe%2Bb%C3%B4nus%2Bpara%2Bjogar%E3%80%90666777.ORG%E3%80%91.rzfo&hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/Skadanks/photos/4201997-editioncelebrating-big-youths-birthday-at-jamrock-in-hempstead-with-yami/1443284460321618/?_rdr

https://soundtapes.forumotion.com/t470-rodigan-v-killamanjaro-jamrock-club-long-island-ny-28th-november-1997

https://app.midpage.ai/document/paul-lyn--jamroc-caf%C3%A9-inc-v-inc-village-of-hempstead-8451868?utm_source=webapp&refG=true

Researched by Darren Paltrowitz on April 21, 2025.

Jim's Country Inn

Jim’s Country Inn in West Babylon -- often shortened to “Babylon” on flyers -- had a documented address of 1300 Wellwood Ave, West Babylon, NY 11704. A multi-band billing featuring Agnostic Front, Crumbsuckers, Antidote, Krakdown and The Mob was documented as taking place on June 22, 1985. Below is a flyer from that performance:

Researched by Darren Paltrowitz on October 11, 2025.

Juke Joint

Juke Joint 213 -- as located at 213 Bedford Avenue in Bellmore -- was a bar which occasionally featured notable artists. In the early 2000s, I recall seeing Murder By Death, Dearly Departed (with Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run's John Nolan in attendance) and The Gimme 5 (featuring Matt Kurz of Bomb The Music Industry!) at this spot.

More on the venue can be found here and here. Footage of The Intellectuals performing at this spot in the late 1990s can be seen here. Video of Rat Bastard playing there in 1999 can be seen here.

The venue was featured within the Bellmore-oriented documentary called Bellmore: The Unscene, and footage of The Eggplant Queens performing at this venue was used within the film. More footage related to the film, including its official trailer, can be seen here.

Researched by Darren Paltrowitz on June 21, 2025. Updated on November 26, 2025.

Junction

Former site of Junction:

As located at 20 West Park Avenue in Long Beach, New York, Junction -- also known as the Anchor Tavern and The Park, now known as Toast -- occasionally hosted touring musicians and notable comedians. Among the notable artists who had performed at this venue were Deer Tick (as part of the Shine A Light Music Series event presented by the Tommy Brull Foundation), Titus Andronicus, I Am The Avalanche, The Felice Brothers, and Mark Normand.

A September 2025 presentation featuring content from this LibGuide entry was presented at the Long Beach Public Library in Long Beach, NY, which you can read more about here and watch here.

Deer Tick performing live at The Junction (courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan - upon closer review, LibGuide author Darren Paltrowitz can be seen towards the middle-right corner of the photo):

Deer Tick & So So Glos played the "Shine a Light" benefit @ Junction (pics)