Is it just me or is Chicago nightlife underrated? (Naperville: hotel, neighborhoods)

[TheTraveler_]

I'm not from Chicago but have experienced nightlife in many cities and honestly I think Chicago is the very best. It doesn't usually get mentioned with NYC, Las Vegas, LA, Miami, or even New Orleans as the top tier, and I honestly don't understand why. It has the best range of bars (from down-to-earth and divey to sophisticated and pretentious), great live music and other events throughout the city every day of the week, excellent clubs, cocktail lounges, dive bars, neighborhood spots, etc. And many of the higher end bars serve absolutely incredible food. Not to mention, unlike some of those other cities it's a true drinking town. Bars are a major part of the fabric of the city and are everywhere.

Anyway - I just wanted to point out that I think, while people know Chicago has good nightlife, it's underrated considering just how awesome it actually is.

[UrbanCheetah]

I think in the US, it's not THAT underrated. I think the thing with Chicago's nightlife is that it's fairly well-known in the US, just not world reknown. It's kind of like Madrid, where they have an amazing nightlife, one of the best, but you don't hear people talk too much about it on a global scale. Where places like NYC, Miami, Las Vegas are world reknown. I think there is a certain celebrity and bling factor missing from Chicago's nightlife (not saying that is a good or bad thing) that make people not as informed on the nightlife, when I think it probably has one of the most diverse nightlifes in the country!

I think the nightlife is great, but I will say one thing I don't like is it's not as diverse in regards to demographics (although that is changing). The main nightlife areas, except for maybe Logan Square, tend to be very "white".

[earslikeacat]

I am so glad my drinking days were in Chicago. I look at the bars in Minneapolis and pity the people who are stuck drinking in the most boring bar atmosphere you can imagine: suburban bars are dreadful ( the music playing overhead with no CD player/jukebox, the patrons, etc..). I miss my Chicago.

[MillennialUrbanist]

When people think "good nightlife", they often think of high-end <sung>G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah</sung> clubs. The kinds with a $30 cover (unless you're on the VIP list) and $20 martinis. You find plenty of those in cities like New York, Miami, and LA. Chicago just doesn't have the culture to support those. It's too down-to-earth and blue-collar, which works against these venues. It's a bar city, rather than a club city.

White Star Lounge, Crobar, Rednofive, and Excalibur/Vision/Castle all came and went. They were very fancy, with prices to match. In their heyday, they attracted quite a large crowd, but a bulk of it must have been tourists, as well as locals wanting to see what the hubbub is about. I tried Excalibur/Vision/Castle, and hated it. (Perhaps someone in Miami Beach would have a better time there.) But that wasn't enough to sustain them long-term.

[UrbanCheetah]

Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist

When people think "good nightlife", they often think of high-end <sung>G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah</sung> clubs. The kinds with a $30 cover (unless you're on the VIP list) and $20 martinis. You find plenty of those in cities like New York, Miami, and LA. Chicago just doesn't have the culture to support those. It's too down-to-earth and blue-collar, which works against these venues. It's a bar city, rather than a club city.

White Star Lounge, Crobar, Rednofive, and Excalibur/Vision/Castle all came and went. They were very fancy, with prices to match. In their heyday, they attracted quite a large crowd, but a bulk of it must have been tourists, as well as locals wanting to see what the hubbub is about. I tried Excalibur/Vision/Castle, and hated it. (Perhaps someone in Miami Beach would have a better time there.) But that wasn't enough to sustain them long-term.

Agreed. And this isn't a knock on Chicago at all, but that is why I think it's underrated and most people don't know how good it is. You have so many neighborhoods with great nightlife such as Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, River North, Streeterville, the West Loop. Those are all great places for nightlife. Not to mention other neighborhoods like Uptown, Ukrianian Village, Andersonville or Pilsen, which have their own thing going on as well when it comes to nightlife.

[VA All Day]

Like others have said, it's a different kind of nightlife - more of an emphasis on neighborhood bars vs, the megaclubs of elsewhere. As a result, I've felt Chicago to be pretentious and more inclusive as well.

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist

When people think "good nightlife", they often think of high-end <sung>G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah</sung> clubs. The kinds with a $30 cover (unless you're on the VIP list) and $20 martinis. You find plenty of those in cities like New York, Miami, and LA. Chicago just doesn't have the culture to support those. It's too down-to-earth and blue-collar, which works against these venues. It's a bar city, rather than a club city.

White Star Lounge, Crobar, Rednofive, and Excalibur/Vision/Castle all came and went. They were very fancy, with prices to match. In their heyday, they attracted quite a large crowd, but a bulk of it must have been tourists, as well as locals wanting to see what the hubbub is about. I tried Excalibur/Vision/Castle, and hated it. (Perhaps someone in Miami Beach would have a better time there.) But that wasn't enough to sustain them long-term.

I still think the core areas near the center of the city (River North / Gold Coast / Streeterville) do maintain this ambiance a bit, but more in terms of fancy lounges & upscale bars with a scattering of clubs as well.

Chicago does have more of a market for this than any other Midwest city. The combination of nearby yuppie money along with our equivalent of greasy & diverse bridge & tunnelers that come in from Schaumburg / Skokie / Naperville or wherever (think New Jersey for Manhattan) provides a lot of these places with a steady market.

Even in NYC, the megaclub era is not what it once was. Manhattan has also trended much more towards the fancy lounge scene more than anything else.

[King Harold]

The nightclub era of NYC has been all but dead for a while. What replaced it is the meatpacking district style hotel-bar-club like Gansevoort, Jane, Dream, etc. I don't think Chicago has anything like those places. Chicago probably has as many straight up dance club style 'nightclubs' as NYC. Vegas totally dominates this scene in the USA. Almost all of the top 20 biggest nightclubs are in Vegas. Aside from those hotel clubs I don't find Chicago nightlife all that different than NYC. NYC night life is mostly about bars too. LA nightlife totally sucks. Probably Chicago nightlife is not under-rated it's that LA and NYC nightlife are way OVER-rated.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I still think the core areas near the center of the city (River North / Gold Coast / Streeterville) do maintain this ambiance a bit, but more in terms of fancy lounges & upscale bars with a scattering of clubs as well.

Chicago does have more of a market for this than any other Midwest city. The combination of nearby yuppie money along with our equivalent of greasy & diverse bridge & tunnelers that come in from Schaumburg / Skokie / Naperville or wherever (think New Jersey for Manhattan) provides a lot of these places with a steady market.

Even in NYC, the megaclub era is not what it once was. Manhattan has also trended much more towards the fancy lounge scene more than anything else.

?? What do you mean by greasy and diverse?

[UrbanCheetah]

Originally Posted by King Harold

The nightclub era of NYC has been all but dead for a while. What replaced it is the meatpacking district style hotel-bar-club like Gansevoort, Jane, Dream, etc. I don't think Chicago has anything like those places. Chicago probably has as many straight up dance club style 'nightclubs' as NYC. Vegas totally dominates this scene in the USA. Almost all of the top 20 biggest nightclubs are in Vegas. Aside from those hotel clubs I don't find Chicago nightlife all that different than NYC. NYC night life is mostly about bars too. LA nightlife totally sucks. Probably Chicago nightlife is not under-rated it's that LA and NYC nightlife are way OVER-rated.

I agree I think Chicago and NYC have the most similar nightlife venues in regards to bards and lounges.