Dope Jams

Bio

Dope Jams is an influential underground dance music pillar, operating as a fiercely independent record store, record label, and event promoter spearheaded by co-founder Paul Nickerson. Originating as a legendary brick-and-mortar shop on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, the operation later relocated upstate to a pastoral 40-acre parkland property called Locust Grove in Oak Hill, NY. Today, it acts as a cultural clubhouse bridging deep house, raw techno, and garage classics between the Catskills and NYC's nightlife

The space at Locust Grove is a sprawling, 40-acre rural sanctuary in the Northern Catskills hamlet of Oak Hill, NY. Embedded alongside babbling brooks and lush mountain scenery, the property transforms an old, multi-generational dairy creamery into an immersive, indoor-outdoor clubhouse dedicated to music and community.

The space contains an on-site record store that acts as a physical library for Paul Nickerson's massive 40,000+ vinyl collection, styled like a traditional Tokyo-style audiophile listening bar. The indoor dance space features massive speakers and a booth housing Technics turntables, Pioneer CDJ-3000s, and a tilted Rane 2016 rotary mixer and isolator combo preferred by traditional deep house DJs.
The outdoor speakers extend the music into the woods, creating a completely uncompressed, natural acoustic sweet spot under the open sky right next to Camp Gallagher, a dedicated campground where partygoers can rent or pitch tents directly beneath the stars for multi-day festivals.