Press Kit

Kissa Kissa is a Japanese-style jazz kissa in Crown Heights, Brooklyn: a vinyl listening bar built around a 5,000-LP collection of 1950s–70s jazz and a custom, vinyl-only audiophile system. National Geographic called it the first traditional jazz kissa in the U.S. Cocktails, sake, and small plates. Open seven days.

Kissa Kissa is a Japanese-style jazz kissa at 667 Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, opened in February 2024 by husband-and-wife photographers Danny de Zayas and Nina Barry. National Geographic named it the first traditional jazz kissa in the United States.

The room is modeled on the jazz kissaten of postwar Tokyo: a 5,000-LP collection of 1950s–70s jazz, played on a custom system with no digital source anywhere in the signal path. The bar serves globally-inspired cocktails, a full zero-proof program, sake, and Japanese-leaning small plates. The on-site Record Adoption Center sells vinyl. Open seven days.

Kissa Kissa is a Japanese-style jazz kissa at 667 Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It opened in February 2024 and is independently owned by Danny de Zayas and Nina Barry, a husband-and-wife team who both work as photographers. In February 2026, National Geographic named it the first traditional jazz kissa in the United States.

The room takes its form from the jazz kissaten that spread across postwar Tokyo, where records were expensive, apartments were small, and cafés built rooms good enough to listen in. Kissa Kissa is built the same way. The library runs to more than 5,000 LPs of 1950s–70s jazz, sourced from around the world and weighted toward Japanese pressings. It plays through Harbeth Super HL5plus speakers and ModWright tube amplification, with no digital source anywhere in the signal path. Records are played through, side by side, at a volume set for listening and conversation at the same time.

The bar pours globally-inspired signature cocktails, a full zero-proof program, sake, natural wine and beer, alongside Japanese-leaning small plates. General Manager Omer Berger is a working jazz guitarist. Six original oil portraits of jazz musicians, painted by Nina Barry, line the walls.

Programming runs nightly, with guest DJs, artist tributes and label listening events. In 2026, Kissa Kissa is an official partner on Verve Records’ 70th anniversary, hosting Verve Mondays: 39 consecutive Monday listening events built around 39 Verve reissues, from April 6 through December 28. The Record Adoption Center sells vinyl on site, specializing in Japanese pressings, starting at $3.