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About Bookclub

a place for all generations and people

Bookclub’s musical community and venue history

Bookclub is a Chicago live music venue, event space, and private-event rental venue at 2871 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lakeview. We are in the heart of Chicago, just minutes from Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.

Discover independent artists and upcoming concerts, or bring your birthday party, corporate gathering, fundraiser, holiday party, or private show to our space.

Explore upcoming shows and get tickets or book a private event at Bookclub.

Punk, Pop, Hip-Hop, Laptops, and everything in between. We offer our artists a place to shine, and to look as cool as artists do when headlining a major festival..we give every artist who performs in our building the coolest small-venue production they will every receive, right here in a basement, in Chicago.

In 2021, the Bookclub founders stumbled upon a tiny stage for the rest of us. One show turned into a musical movement, and a DIY venue, at a secret location, was introduced to the Chicago community from 2021-2023. In 2024, we purchased a building to move our venue into legitimacy with a new, fully licensed, venue and bar for multiple generations of people to enjoy. The new building is our forever home, but it was once someone else's music venue home, and department store home, and stockyard! Learn more, below.

Historic view of the building

The building, pending further historical archival research, was built in 1910. The block that our building sits on, along Lincoln Avenue, was once a prominent stockyard location during the Chicago stockyard boom of the early 1900's. At a certain point, the building became the "Maier Department Store", which served as a local haberdashery of sorts. 

Stay tuned for further historical research and fact finding on the Maier years... But one thing is know for sure, from 1989-2019, this building served as home for the historical, notorious, and always fun 'Elbo Room', a music venue beloved by artists, and concertgoers, from around the world. We hope to continue the Elbo Room's legacy and intentions with this building to celebrate independent, local, and national artists with 5 shows a week. 2024 - Infinity!

LOCATION

2871 NORTH LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60657

HOURS

BOOKCLUB VENUE
OPEN FOR SCHEDULED SHOWS
SEE THE SHOW CALENDAR

CLUB SODA
MONDAY–SATURDAY
OPEN AT 5 PM

CLUB SODA
SUNDAYS
OPEN AT 11 AM

PLEASE CHECK CALENDAR AS WE ARE SUBJECT TO CLOSING FOR PRIVATE EVENTS