Ep. 6: Living In Lincoln Square, The Local Music Scene, The Green Mill History And More Feat. Chris Anderson!
Chris Anderson, a mainstay in Chicago's jazz and blues scene, shares stories on living in Lincoln Square, managing the renowned Green Mill, his unique experiences in the city's music culture, the evolution of neighborhoods like Uptown, challenges and benefits of city life, and his personal journey in the vibrant local scene. Dive into a conversation full of insights about life in Chicago, its rich musical heritage, and the dynamic shifts in its entertainment landscape.
The Living in Chicago Podcast is where I, Jake Lyons, get to interview all kinds of people about the Chicago neighborhoods they live in, work in, and play in. This way, you can learn about the lifestyle pros and cons of various neighborhoods directly from the people who live there (or maybe even learn something new about your own neighborhood!)
Local businesses mentioned:
Green Mill: A world-famous cocktail lounge and jazz bar located in Uptown, Chicago. Website: Green Mill
Old Town School of Folk Music: A music school in Chicago offering a wide range of music and dance classes. Website: Old Town School of Folk Music
Demera Ethiopian Restaurant: An Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago, known for its traditional food and beer. Website: Demera
Metro Chicago: A concert hall and event venue in Chicago, known for hosting a variety of music performances. Website: Metro Chicago
Hop Leaf: A bar in Chicago that focuses on promoting better beers, wines, and spirits. Website: Hop Leaf
Riviera Theatre: A historic theater in Uptown, Chicago, now used as a concert and special events venue. Website: Riviera Theatre
Schubas Tavern / Tied House: A tavern and restaurant in Chicago offering a menu that includes beer, cider, and a variety of foods. Website: Schubas / Tied House
Rose's Lounge (Rosa's Lounge): A blues lounge known for its live music and vibrant atmosphere, located in Chicago. Website: Rosa's Lounge
Aragon Theatre: A historic venue in Uptown, Chicago, famous for hosting concerts and special events. Website: The Aragon Theatre does not have a direct website, but information about events can be found through Jam Productions, which manages the venue.
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Real Estate in areas discussed:
https://www.thechicagohomesource.com/lincoln-square/
Real Estate Quick Start Questionnaire
https://www.thechicagohomesource.com/form/
Note: the following transcript was generated automatically and not checked closely for spelling, grammar, or accuracy
Jake Lyons: Hello and welcome to Living in Chicago, the show where I get to interview real Chicagoans about the neighborhoods that they live, work, and play in. My name is Jake Lyons.
I am your host. And in this episode, I interview Chris Anderson, who is a fixture in the local jazz and blues scene and is a resident for the last several years of Lincoln Square. Although he has lived in a great many places throughout his time here in Chicago and has a lot of great stories to tell about the local music scene.
He got to manage the world famous cocktail lounge and jazz bar, the Green Mill over in Uptown, which is famous for just all kinds of really cool somewhere between cool and interesting and fun and historical reasons, which we get into in this. And yeah, we just talk a lot about a bunch of different things about living in living in Chicago and Lincoln Square in particular. If you're unfamiliar with Lincoln Square, that's okay. It's not one of the most talked about neighborhoods in Chicago, but it is one that should be because it's a cool place.
I lived there at one point myself and enjoyed it very much. Lincoln Square is located. It is about five miles, five or six miles north from downtown Chicago and then about two miles inland, so west from there. So the main east-west streets going through it are Foster Avenue, Lawrence Avenue, Wilson Avenue and Montrose Avenue.
You'll be able to access it from Lakeshore Drive, any of those exits will do and then just keep going until you're there. And the major north-south streets going through are Ravenswood, which is kind of a hilarious street that doesn't really feel like a street when you're on it. It feels more like an alley or like a parking lot because there's a metro train going through the middle of Ravenswood Avenue for most of it. So you're only experiencing one side of the street and it kind of feels a little weird, but it is a major street and that's the dividing line. That's the eastern most kind of dividing line of Lincoln Square. It goes up, technically it goes up to Peterson, although the part of Lincoln Square that is bordering Peterson is actually a cemetery.
So for all intents and purposes, Brenmar Avenue is really the north dividing line and then it goes as far west as the river and then as far south as Montrose. And yeah, some fun facts. I'm just going to literally read to you what this little blurb is on Google when you pull up Lincoln Square. Founded by German immigrants in the 1840s, Lincoln Square is defined by modest homes and leafy streets. Lawrence, Lincoln and Western avenues have German restaurants and bars that feature traditional food and beer.
Quick aside, although a couple of those have shut down in recent years and not even because of COVID either, it's kind of, I don't know, just decided to shut down. But anyway, German restaurants and bars that feature traditional food and beer and there are plenty of Bavarian style bakeries and shops here as well. Trendy cafes and hip cocktail bars draw young fashionable crowds. The Old Town School has an eclectic roster of live music.
As far as what does it actually like to live in Lincoln Square? Well, that is why I have invited Chris Anderson on to tell you. So without further ado, let's hear from Chris. All right, I am here today joined by Chris Anderson. Chris, hey, how are you? Good, how are you doing? I'm excellent.
Thank you for coming. Chris is a veteran of the local Chicago music scene, at least in my time of knowing him, mostly in sort of a behind the scenes capacity. If there's more to it than that, I'm sure we'll get into it, you know, in this conversation. He's been here for quite some time and has a lot of stories to tell. So I'm excited for the Chicago history, the Chicago music scene, all the things that we'll get into with that. He is also a resident of the Lincoln Square neighborhood currently, but has been all over the place. But you know, that's enough of me talking. Chris, how about what should the audience know about you right off the bat?
Chris Anderson: Oh gosh, I've been in Chicago for 30 years and I have a love-hate relationship with the city.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, we all at times. Yeah. I moved here in 94 and I was really enamored with the city. I mean, I still am enamored with elements of the city, but it's definitely a city that doesn't make it easy on you to exist with everything you've got to deal with.
Jake Lyons: What, yeah, we can start there. What do you mean by that? We can go negative first and then...
Chris Anderson: We'll go negative. We'll start out with the bad and hopefully move to the good. I think it's tough. It's funny. I just got rid of my car, turned my car into a new car and I just thought about all the everything that the car went through in 12 years, 14 years. And just, you know, all the potholes, all the red light camera tickets, all the parking tickets, all the accidents, all the crime. And, you know, I think your car sometimes is an extension of you in a lot of ways because you're in it.
A lot of people are in it every single day. And when your car gets broken into or you go over a car, you get zapped with a pothole and it damages your car. And then you get a red light ticket or a parking ticket. And it just, I understand that city living, but also it builds up, slowly it chips away at your resilience, I guess. And it just, you gotta be, I mean, you gotta be a very, very city savvy person to live in Chicago.
Jake Lyons: Especially with a car. Yeah, that is a good point. When I moved here from Indianapolis, so I've lived here, I've lived in Chicago for about nine years now, moved here in my mid 20s. And within the first year of living here, I'd say I accumulated, I don't know, it's in the double digits of combined like parking tickets and red light camera tickets and speed camera tickets and, you know, all these things got my car towed, like twice at least the first year because we lived on the street. That was one of those classic camp park on this side between four and six p.m. camp park on the other side between whatever it is, seven and nine a.m. And I just didn't, what didn't grow up in a place that had anything near that, you know? And just wasn't used to that and forgot a couple times. And I mean, yeah, it's when you're not, when you're not used to, oh, city, the city stickers, the city tax stickers that you have in your car, I had no clue about that, got dinged for that, you know?
Chris Anderson: I think that's what's definitely a lot. Yeah, I think that's probably what's most frustrating to me is, you know, paying the city stickers and, you know, I understand the need for, I understand the need for this to pay for the stickers for upkeep of the roads, but the roads are flipping horrible.
I mean, horrible. And I'm just wondering where all this money goes to repair the roads when you got potholes the size of bowling balls all over the place. But and I try not to be nitpicky because I do, there is a, I think Chicago is a real wonderful city, but I think that's one of my biggest grievances with the cities, you know, paying for the city stickers, assuming that money is to take care of the roads and the roads are just not taken care of.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. And then, you know, you look at, I don't know if you ever see any of those memes or things that people, it'll come up on, you know, social media sometimes where it's like a, it's like a picture of a road in like ancient Rome that was built in, you know, 300 BC and looks just as pristine as the day they built it. And it was just like, where did we go wrong? I mean, granted, maybe those areas in Rome don't, you know, there's not like weeks where it's negative 10 one
Chris Anderson: day and then 40 the next day and then, you know, all that, like that's,
Jake Lyons: I'm definitely not a concrete specialist or like a construction, you know, I'm sure the weather here poses very challenges to upkeep all the roads and, you know, it's like whack a mole in a lot of ways, I'm sure, but I agree. Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, that's, that's like a fair and balanced and impartial way to look at it, but that's not what we're here for. We're just, we're just here to talk to, you know, talk about how it impacts us in our individual daily lives. Sure. Yeah. Exactly. Right. So yeah, so you get around, so, Kari, so you live in Lincoln Square, you've been there for a few, a couple years now, a few years?
Chris Anderson: Yeah, I've kind of bounced all over the city. When I moved here, excuse me, my first place was in Rogers Park. And then I migrated to, for a brief time, UK Village, when it was pretty hairy back then. And then gosh, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and then Uptown, I lived in Uptown for 12 years. And, and then North Center and now Lincoln Square.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, quite the route. And yeah, you mentioned a couple of those areas. So again, I've lived here, I've lived here for eight or nine years. It'll be nine years next summer. And it's funny when I listen, when I hear stories of people who have been here for even just a little bit longer, and you know, in your case, three times as long about these neighborhoods where all I know of these neighborhoods is that they're like the nice, trendy, bougie, like areas, you want to live in these places. But then you hear the stories of like, I don't know, West Loop 15 years ago, you didn't want to be there. Or like, you know, Wicker Park, forget about it. It's like, what do you mean? This is like the coolest place in the city now.
Chris Anderson: I mean, I moved to Uptown in 1999. And the other was the girl that I was dating at the time, she and I were moving in together. It was a huge place. I mean, that's the thing with the architecture in Uptown, is that it's very vast, fast buildings with really a lot of rustic, unique turn of the century architecture that has kind of remained intact.
Some of the buildings over there are astounding. And I lived there from 1999 to 2011, I think. And it was, you know, when we moved in, it was a little hairy.
It was a little hairy. I mean, the only thing going on in that whole area was the green mill. And then you could kind of see it just like, it started to pop up, it started to get a little bit safer. There was more construction going on. And it just seemed to, you know, start to blossom a bit. And then I think when the economic collapse of 2008 hit, you could see things kind of take a dive. And but I still think it's a very unique neighborhood.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, in my experience, you know, as a real estate agent, doing work in Uptown from time to time, I've always wondered why just, you know, to speak nothing of what it's actually like to live there, safety, you know, I haven't lived there. So I could really speak to that. But even just in terms of like property values, and assuming that property values are a pretty good indicator of what people think about the neighborhood at large, you know, that I've always wondered why Uptown just wasn't performing better, you know, that's a really good question.
Like for how, for how pristine of a location it should theoretically be. And it has all these cool things. It has the green mill, it has these concert venues. And I know, I know some of the like the bigger concert venues there have been kind of like re renovated somewhat relatively recently and stuff like that.
But you know, really cool restaurants, they got a demarrow there. I mean, it seems it has a lot going for it. I wouldn't, I would, I don't know, I would think it would be more of a, more of a spot that people put more stock into.
Chris Anderson: Yeah, I think, I think for the, for the city layman, I think people still view Uptown as really dangerous. And I, I just don't think that's okay. I mean, anywhere is dangerous no matter where you are, if you're in a city. And I think that for some reason that it, that tag has not fully left the neighborhood where there's just this gringy vibe on it. But I think it's a great neighborhood. And like I said, the apartment that I had back in the day, I think it was like 1800, it's the biggest apartment I've ever lived in. I think it was 1800 square feet. It was great.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, that's a good size, good size for, for a city anywhere. Yeah. So you go from Uptown to, let's see, what was the, okay, a little Lincoln Park, little Lakeview. What was your experience like in those areas?
Chris Anderson: That was, I mean, that was a long time ago. Lincoln Park was kind of, in the 90s, I mean, that was kind of like a hip area. I mean, I moved from Lincoln Park to to Uptown.
And so that was, that was a big change. And then when I was married, we had a spot in North Center, which was, which was very nice. I really liked that neighborhood quite a bit.
And then the wife and I went our separate ways quite amicably. And so I got a joint up in Lincoln Square. And I like it a lot. It's, it's, it's more adult oriented, you know, it's quiet.
Street parking is, is free. And I just like the, the kind of the, you know, I can walk over to Lincoln Avenue and there's some nightlife, but it just seems to be not nightlife like you'd find in, in Wicker Park or Lincoln Park. It's just a lot more adult oriented. It's more like the, the 40 and over club. Right.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. It's like the crowd. That's kind of, they've been there done that on the, the younger bar scene. And now that I just want to go kind of like have a nice cocktail and some adult lunchables that they call a charcuterie and, you know, just kind of, yeah, go home and not have a hangover the next day. Exactly. Yeah.
That makes sense. And you, you have a, you have a daughter, right? Yep. Charlotte, she's 13. 13. Okay. So how was it raising, you know, raising a family and, and these various neighborhoods where, where was the majority of the first time?
Chris Anderson: I mean, she was born in North center or when, when we lived in North center and we had a really nice place. We had a backyard, which was fantastic. And, you know, she was lucky. We were lucky to get her into a really good public school. And that's the thing about CPS is again, gets a bad name nationally, but with within the CPS system are some of the best public schools in the country.
So it's, it's, it's unique where you have this massive system that is, people say broken, but within that system is are some of the finest in the country. We got lucky. She, she went to Hamilton and, and we enjoyed our time there quite a bit. It's really, really good school.
Jake Lyons: Nice. Yeah, that's actually, that's a good, that's a good, good place to spend at least a little bit of time because, you know, this, this show is, is at least largely going to be oriented or I imagine a lot of people finding this show are going to be people who are, you know, from, from outside of Chicago, outside of the state, you know, stumble upon this pod and, you know, are wondering like, is this a good, what, what is it actually like here? What are, what would life for my kids be like here if we were to move here or things like that? I, the, the way that the public school system works here, me and, you know, my wife and I not having kids yet is a, is a huge, I just don't know anything about it, but I've heard all these, you know, kind of horror stories about how, how difficult the public system, school system here is to navigate. What, and I get your daughter hasn't, hasn't reached a high school age, which I feel like is, is when I've heard a lot of the drama starts, but maybe, maybe not on us.
Chris Anderson: Is what, I think that's, I think that's exactly right. I think the, the K through K through eight is pretty gosh darn good. I mean, there's, especially in this area, there's waters, there's Hamilton, there's Ottoman, there's Coonley, there is Bell, and there's some really strong schools. I have a great reputation, but once you get out of the eighth grade, I think options are not as fruitful as K through eight. And so I think that anybody who is thinking about sending their kids to public school, even if you don't have kids yet, really get wired in with how the system works and start doing your research because it's a lot of work.
And I will really hand it to, give a lot of credit to my, to my ex because she was extremely astute and really on top of it and has done a great job.
Jake Lyons: What are the kind of, what are the variables at play? Like what, because like growing up in in this neighborhood, you go to this school, that's that, you know, it seems like that's very much not the case here.
Chris Anderson: There is that element, but there's also, you can apply for, I can't remember what it's called, basically like a, like an open call, if you will, where certain schools that are in certain areas, especially some of the nicer schools with, that have a wealthier neighborhood, a lot of those kids go to private schools. So some of the public schools within those areas have openings. And then so you submit into what's called the lottery. And when schools open up, they count how many kids are coming in, and then they have open spaces. So they end up going into the, opening up to the lottery. And I think we got accepted to three or four schools and settled on, settled on Hamilton. And so I think the lottery system, at least in my experience, worked out quite well.
Jake Lyons: Interesting. So it's literally just a lottery, or is it partly based on any kind of merit, grades, like standardized tests?
Chris Anderson: No, this is, I mean, this, this starts like in, in kindergarten, where, you know, I think we were, I think we were in the CUNY, living in the CUNY district, we toured CUNY, like, I don't know, let's, let's take our chances on the lottery and see what's out there and see what's available. And we toured Hamilton, and met the principal, and it was just, I just felt it was a better fit. And so did, so did my daughter's mother. And, and that's how it worked out. And they, you know, they said we got accepted. And, and, but I would highly recommend people getting involved with the lottery. If you have kids, and you don't want to go to your neighborhood school, then try the lottery.
Jake Lyons: Okay. Good notes. Yeah, I guess we can back up all the way to what, what brought you to Chicago to begin with. I saw, see here, you're from, you're from Albuquerque,
Chris Anderson: Albuquerque, is that, am I saying it? I don't, I never know. I'll Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jake Lyons: I say it the Bugs Bunny way.
Chris Anderson: Left turn at Albuquerque.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, he took a left turn at Albuquerque, and yeah, Chicago.
Chris Anderson: I mean, I grew up, I was kind of, I was born in St. Louis, grew up in Albuquerque, went to high school in Connecticut, and college in upstate New York. And I started to come to Chicago because my, my brother and his then, his then girlfriend, now wife, were in school at Loyola. And so instead of going from, if you can New York all the way back to New Mexico, I would just drive to Chicago and I got to know the city. And I just felt like, I wanted to live in a big city. And I felt Chicago was more affordable. That was probably a big element than New York or Boston. And just easier to get around, you could have a car. And I just felt like it was a, it was a, it was a good fit.
Jake Lyons: Was there ever a draw to LA kind of being more from like, Southwest?
Chris Anderson: No, I really didn't. And people ask that a lot, you know, why do you live in such a cold space, or a cold place? And I think, you know, maybe in a 10 years or so, I'll retire in a warmer climate. But I'm just, I think for a while I was borderline and pervious to cold. Because maybe I grew up playing ice hockey, but it just didn't affect me. It didn't affect me until I turned 45. Now it sucks. Now it really like the wind cuts through like, oh, it sucks. So, so we'll see where we're next few years take me.
Jake Lyons: Interesting skin. This gets a little thinner or something. Yeah. Yeah. Not quite as, yeah.
Chris Anderson: Okay. I think it's, I think it's the longevity of the winter. Because really there's only two seasons in Chicago, summer and summer and winter. And I think we, this year so far, we're doing pretty good. It's mid-December and no snow and rarely does it get below 30. So, so far we're okay.
Jake Lyons: Yeah. That's, well, that's what that's supposedly that's what they're calling for, right? The, I forget if it's El Nino or El Nino, one of them. They say that that's the year of that. So it's supposed to be a milder winter. But honestly, I kind of feel like December is usually kind of like this. Like December comes, everybody always thinks like, oh, it's a winter, it's going to be, you know, cold and snowy all the time.
But that really doesn't come on consistently until January, February. Like that's the time where you really start questioning all your life choices. And you're just like, why would I ever, why did I choose to live here?
Chris Anderson: I haven't gone anywhere. Right. Exactly. And I also think that that's, that has made it more survivable. You know, when it's, when it's subarctic temperatures in November, like, this is going to be a long winter, man. But if it doesn't get to that cold, that real cold spot until like January, I think everybody in Chicago starts looking forward to, there's an element of, and I'm not a baseball guy. I mean, I like baseball, I like watching, but there's an element of when you start hearing about spring training, that just like kind of sets something in your mind, like, ah, spring warm weather is around the corner. Even though it's not for a while, but spring training, when spring training starts, it's almost like there's a sense of hope.
Jake Lyons: The word spring is right there in the title. I mean, how can that not be hopeful? Yeah, exactly. That makes sense. Just glob onto that. Was it the music scene in Chicago, especially that drew you here?
Chris Anderson: Or, I mean, I think it was other arts or, I think it was everything. I worked at a sports publishing company back in the nineties, and there was, but also played in bands at night. And so it was the, it was just the whole package of having five sports teams and have seen the music scene so lively and thrive so much. I mean, back in the nineties, if you were in night spot, you were either, you're either a music venue that had live music every night, or a bar where you had music maybe once a week or something like that.
It was that prevalent. And then I think that ESPN Nation kind of took over, and you could see this change where the music venues were starting to go like this, and sports bars were going like this. And you just saw these great venues like Lowndracks get gobbled up.
And I mean, it's expensive to run a music venue as seeing the other side of things from a proprietor's point of view. I got to maintain all this equipment. I got to pay Soundman.
I got to pay this staff, somebody to book the joint, when maybe things might be easier on my end, if I just throw some TVs up and throw on Chicago sports games. And that's what happened. I mean, it was like, I think that in the toward the end of the nineties and definitely beginning of 2000s, I mean, you just saw sports bar after sports bar after sports bars, like, God, damn, how many sports bars do you need? And I like sports, but I don't need to. It doesn't need to consume my entire life. And so you started seeing that a lot of music venues go down and be replaced by sports bars.
Jake Lyons: So in a roundabout way, you're saying Michael Jordan killed the Chicago local music team.
Chris Anderson: I think that the success of the bowls definitely dominated the headlines for sure. Absolutely. But I also feel like, you know, everybody kind of let it happen too. And again, I love sports. I grew up playing sports, and I love watching them.
I love playing them. Again, I just don't need it to be I like the diversity of a nightlife where you can go see a game or you can go see some music or play a performance or something like that. And I think that TV just really took over and I think the success and the international success of ESPN spawned all sorts of different sports channels with more sports and more sports and more coverage and Yeah, right, right. Yeah, exactly and to the point where now you've seen a turn where It's it's come back again and really started to come back in the teens for a while different music venues popping up and And now it's it's it's an unusual definitely unusual time for For live entertainment of any where you rely on putting butts in seats because Through the the ladder teens you saw the evolution of these multi-billion dollar companies Whose sole business model is to keep you on your couch ordering stuff from them, you know Netflix and Grubhub and Amazon and on and on and on and on and on The whole movement to keep people all they need is their phone in their life has taken away from the Not only the live music scene but the in-person scene from from going to the ballet to the theater even just grabbing a drink with friends, you know, I think that it's It's really it's it's very difficult to get people to come out these days much more more so than than in years past and You know, I think People keep on saying well, you know the pandemic's over if you want to call it over. I don't know people are still getting COVID but People are saying it's gonna come back like I don't think it's gonna come back anytime soon and I think it's gonna take a real Generation of people a generation of kids saying to themselves, you know what I'm tired of staring at my phone Tired of screens. I want to go engage with other humans and experience Some sort of live entertainment But I think we're a ways away from that and We'll see Yeah, that's interesting.
Jake Lyons: I mean, yeah, you would think that And I feel like I may be I don't know maybe it's just because this was very much my mindset So I just assumed other people had it had it too and that everybody was on board with it But it seemed like I mean at least I was very Pro like as soon as the pandemic was at a place where we could go out and like do something I was like I was like always the first one knocking at the door of like let's do in-person stuff And it seemed like there was a lot of enthusiasm for that once once people could do it again It was just like yeah, this is nice people, you know, but Obviously, I know not everybody was like that but no, I mean look at like Go ahead.
Chris Anderson: I mean, I just look at the numbers and I think I think people go out They definitely don't go out as late as they used to without it done. I mean There are a lot of venues that you know Shut down at 10 11 o'clock that would normally be open till at least midnight. There's just not the there's just not the demand anymore Yeah
Jake Lyons: Yeah, maybe I mean, yeah, maybe it's just different levels to it I guess I mean that we've been to a few different concerts this year and it just it seems like just the price-wise of it It's this I mean obviously inflation has been a big deal to the economy, you know broader economy as a whole but I think the stats show I saw something in the Wall Street Journal about a couple weeks ago and certainly my you know Real-world experience of it proves it too. Is this like everything if you're like going to like an actual concert It's so much more expensive now Oh, I mean it's just astronomical like I was trying to see like the black keys were coming to What's like the what's the one actually in uptown the one the one kind of like bigger theater that people is it
Chris Anderson: the air gone There's the air gone in the Riviera.
Jake Lyons: Yeah, I think it was the air gone and like tickets to get in there We're like $400 just like to get in there or it's
Chris Anderson: like Willing to spend you know a week salary on it I think and that's another thing is that there I Took my daughter to go see a band called Gorillas at the United Center this past summer It was great and But you know, I looked online for tickets and that the cheapest ticket I could get were decent seats was like $250 like What is going on here, man? So I actually went I got on my bicycle and rode down to the United Center and Went to the ticket office, which was hilarious because it's just this massive Facility and I was like, where is the ticket office?
It used to be I think gate three and it's just I had to like ask around actually called up the United Center just on a whim and They answered Wow, you guys answer the phone So how do I get tickets? I'm here to pick up, you know buy some tickets at least and so they said Well, where are you when I was on the East side of the bill or west side of the building and you get on the east side go down And then I had to tell the parking lot attendant that I was buying Tickets in person and then then then they would let me in so I get in Locked my bike right next to the Jordan statue go in to this and it's like Omega man There's like this huge facility that nobody's in And I find the ticket office and there's like eight kiosks and then just just one lady just on her phone playing solitaire or whatever and I said, yeah, I'm looking for tickets to see guerrillas and she pulled out the map and showed me what's available And I said I'll take these two and I had cash with me and she was like, oh you're paying cash Yeah, she said two tickets gonna be $250. I said two total She was yeah, it's 250 and I said why saw online that one single ticket was 250 goes.
Yeah, well, there's a lot of Price gouging with ticket outlets. Yeah, there is and then I did the whole thing and I said to her I said, I think I've saved like a lot of money like a lot of money Like a hundred dollars a ticket and she said yeah, that's about right and I said, what why am I the only one here? Why wouldn't there be a line down the street for people to get tickets at basically 50% off and she said people just love the Convenience of not having to leave to get what they want. I like well that Makes sense But I mean I saved $100 a ticket by just going down there and paying cash Wow, yeah off the actual Like retail price of it.
Jake Lyons: Okay, so I could see how going to the window would save like convenience fees
Chris Anderson: Well, you know something like that, but you actually saved it Yeah, actual price of the ticket. Yeah, just by paying cash in person I mean, there's if you look at if you look at the fees buy a ticket even like on Eventbrite or something like that Well, the big ones you will see all these fees That are just hogwash, you know, it's just it's just gouging and so Ever since then like I I was just talking to somebody the night of the night that went to a show at Chicago Theater and bought the tickets at At the ticket window, you know a couple months prior to the show and saved a lot of money. So The convenience fees they're convenient, but they can really jack up the price. That's for sure No doubt That's a really good note.
Jake Lyons: Wow. That's what a cheat code I'm almost considering editing that out of the podcast just so that the word doesn't get out too much about that But then again, maybe it should we can put it put a dent in the stock
Chris Anderson: price of Yeah, just cash in in person you'll save a lot of money and it's I just feel like it's worth the trip Yeah, nice.
Jake Lyons: That's That's a great note. Man. That's worth the price of listening to this podcast alone, right?
Chris Anderson: We're bringing to bring into the masses. Yeah, exactly.
Jake Lyons: That's awesome So, yeah, we're talking about I mean obviously Chicago, you know the this the sports fandom a lot there's a lot of pride that goes into being a Chicago sports fan and like a lot of You know history with that, but there's also a lot of history with the Chicago Music scene going back over a hundred years now at this point, you know blues jazz the whole thing What about that scene? Has intrigued you or that do you feel like it's still alive today?
Chris Anderson: I Think it's very vibrant. I think what's unique about the scene That's different than New York is yeah, there's a lot of a lot of opportunities a lot of accessibility But I feel like and this is and I'm not alone in this in this thought that New York is more cutthroat And less community and a lot of touring musicians are always comment on How strong the community of musicians and support is in Chicago? And I don't think you get that in many cities I Think every musician should take a crack at New York just to do it and to experience it But it's and you get that under your belt, but if you you know start in Chicago or start in St. Louis or Kansas City Or wherever, you know and build a scene and then take a crack in New York and if you come back home It doesn't mean you failed it means you have you know that that experience under your belt But I mean the genres was it I mean to get back to your question I think the biggest asset is is the the community Mm-hmm Yeah, nice
Jake Lyons: Time for the real estate stats corner presented by me Jake Lyons real estate advisor here in Chicago with app properties and My website the Chicago home source calm in this section. I am going to present you with three Stats that will give you a pretty good idea of what's going on in the Lincoln Square neighborhood from a real estate cost standpoint I like to do this because without real estate what even really is a neighborhood And I think that that's important and I think at least some of you out there might get something out of it so the three stats I'll throw at you the first one is For a two-bed condo in the Lincoln Square neighborhood right now, which right now for me is as of December of 2023 is the most recent data I have and this stuff obviously changes all the time the most recent two-bed condo has a median price median closed sales price of $312,250 so that's the median half sold for more a half sold for less. That's right in the middle for a two-bed condo for a house if you're looking for more of a house with at least three or four plus bedrooms which Lincoln Square is a market where it's pretty much half condos half houses. There's a good mix of both You're looking at a median sales price of just over a million basically a million and four Let's just go ahead and call that a million dollars as the median for a house and then if you're looking to rent a two-bed apartment anywhere in the Lincoln Square area the median price point for that is going to be $2,175 for a two-bed apartment and that's obviously per month So there you have it. There is the Lincoln Square real estate stats corner presented by Jake Lyons and TheChicagoHomesource.com if you want to find out more about what's going on in the Lincoln Square neighborhood right now or Really anywhere in Chicago from a real estate listing standpoint go to TheChicagoHomesource.com You can find that in the show notes What are the I guess when you talk about like the local Chicago music scene what what are those genres specifically that come to mind? First I mean, I know like you think I like Chicago you probably think Blues Brothers So Blues is you know, probably gonna be first on the list of most people, but you know is that That's probably not the whole story right? What all what all is going on out there?
Chris Anderson: No, I mean, I mean, I think there's not many Blues venues anymore to tell you I mean, there's roses and You know a lot of different restaurants do Blues There's maybe Two or three iconic Blues joints in the city that that at one time was like 10 or 15 I think the rock scene is still extremely strong And you have any you have the mom and pop venues that have stood the test of time like like a Shubas or a martyrs or a beat kitchen and then you know the the larger venues that have kind of been erected by I think it's called the division 10 group they own space and Evanston and Thalia Hall and Promontory and it's the an offshoot of The empty bottle and I think that the system that they have where they start, you know younger it's almost like a Minor league Baseball farm team where you start up playing it like the empty bottle and you migrate up to Thalia Hall and hopefully get picked up by Jam productions and so on and so forth So I think if you're a rock and roll musician in Chicago, you have a lot of opportunities There's a lot of venues and there's a lot of support. I think same thing not as many opportunities with for for jazz There's there's still you know the iconic green metal, but there's also Andes and Jazz showcase and a lot of different it's interesting to see venues like California Clipper who have been known over for 20 years is more like a a rock ability type of bar starting to book Live jazz and same with cocktail bars like like the Whistler doing live jazz once a week So there's there's a lot of opportunity and but I've also seen going back to the community aspect of it, I've seen a lot of young musicians out of Northwestern or to Paul Form these kind of like jam sessions slash Groups that that will take over a bar and do and it's a great way to to bring in younger musicians together introduced to the leaders of the Scene Yes
Jake Lyons: Yeah, you mentioned the green mill you you did you did a bunch of work for the green mill right where you were there for quite a while or my
Chris Anderson: Now I was a manager there for 12 years
Jake Lyons: if so what was your you managed the bar you help book Were you booking people or what was the
Chris Anderson: you do when you do everything you do everything really I mean it's It's a it's a job where you you wear a lot of hats and you know you got a You know basically basically you control the room.
I mean you have a door staff. You have a bar staff You got to get the band up on stage and introduce them You got to quiet the crowd and that that can actually be you know it makes sense but it forms a lot of tension because Green mill once you walk in you're enamored with the the aesthetic of it and it's just it's like a real drinking establishment But the owner wants wants it quiet during the music Which is understandable and you know there's you know the sayings you You you paid $15 or $10 I hope you just didn't bait so you could have a drink because These are really top-notch musicians and you want to listen to every note and but the tension of of trying to keep the crowd The the tension really comes down to The powers that be there want you to treat the place like it's a museum But drink like it's a frat party and those things just don't go together and It creates a lot of tension and a lot of
Jake Lyons: issues So to those listening who might not uh fully appreciate, you know, what what the green mill is what's uh Take us through like like just kind of an elevator pitch, you know summary of just what what what is the green mill? Why is it so iconic and you know, why is that?
Chris Anderson: I think just the what it's it's longevity and it's mystique for from being uh owned by uh Owned by and and a hangout for gangsters back at drink prohibition And just withstand and then all of the famous musicians who who perform there And it's just a unique establishment that's main that's maintained its overall aesthetic and uh, you know has withstood the the test of time and You know when you go in there you're kind of walking into a lot of history and they just don't make them like that anymore and um Uh, I mean you look at and going back to what we said before about the the the scene taking a turn well When I was there when I was a manager green mill really wasn't Full on it wasn't like green mill like really lively until you know midnight or even one o'clock in the morning on weekends Now they're no longer open late night. They shut down at 12 30 and I still talked to and hang out with the staff there And the funny thing when I was a manager there, you know, you do last call it at 3 30 in the morning or 4 4 30 in the morning depending on what night it was And then you know, it was just so hard to get people out the door, you know, hey man. It's the sun is coming up frickin go home and uh nowadays Uh, I mean my friends who who still work there say they they barely even have to call last call He said shows end at midnight 12 30 there. That's usually it so really, uh In just a short amount of time very very different, uh Very very different takes on on the on the venue
Jake Lyons: Do you think that's due mostly to uh, sort of like change changing consumer behaviors and and once or do you think how much of that do you think might have to do with just like I don't know reports of just the neighborhood at 4 a.m. Once you get out of the bar, you know, like just Is there anything like
Chris Anderson: oh no, I think it's I think I think the demand has gone down to to the late night demand has has gone out significantly and I think that You know for the bartenders that's really when they would make their nut was because you get places like these other established bars and venues like metro or hop leaf or simons tavern or A show getting out from rib and and and that staff You know who've been busting their butt all night want to go out and and cut loose and have a few drinks Uh, they just they just don't do that anymore They really don't they'll still stay in or go to somebody's house or or just go home. There's just not that at least what i've seen and There's just not that action anymore
Jake Lyons: The green mill famously um, you know, you mentioned the gangster, you know, kind of the hangout for the gangsters and all that I think most famously it was known as the hangout of al Capone The famous and infamous al Capone, right? You had like a booth in there that he sat at that Right, they had the company.
Chris Anderson: Yeah, right. They had the Capone booth and that's when that's when the stage was actually behind the bar and so The booth faces the stage, but it also faces the East side door and the south side door. So if he had to Get out of there quickly he could get out of there quickly.
Jake Lyons: I mean, that's that's the The stage was on the okay. Yeah, because I have wondered that before like this doesn't actually make sense that How people describe like how he could escape easily is like well, but the stage is back there So how it was easy just looking behind him the whole time. Okay, so that makes more sense and You know, this whole thing was actually A ruse so that I could ask you if you've been in the the tunnels
Chris Anderson: Yeah, if you go behind the bar The the trap door opens up and you go down the basement and that's where the the tunnels Still exist. I think if you go on like the history channel or youtube Different shows that have done that that there's they're still there. They're I don't know if you'd want to hang out down there, but they they are still there and you know, I think they're that it's not only The gremel that has that had those tunnels.
There's a lot of different places in the city That still have tunnels from that were Our underground networks that were built during prohibition because that just created a whole subculture of of people going out at night and parting till all in all hours of the night and then hanging out Under underground so if they get raided they had a they wouldn't get busted
Jake Lyons: Yeah, and it was I imagine it was probably also a way for them to actually distribute the uh the products without being seen above ground And all that. Oh, yeah, that's cool. So it was a lot of different purposes. Yeah, that's such a Such an interesting. I mean there dare I say cool I mean, you know, obviously like they were you know bad bad guys doing bad things or whatever, but you know, it's just That's exactly right. Yeah, so there's just like some kind of sex appeal to it. Whereas it's like wow This is it's it's historical. It's cool. You know, yeah, I mean
Chris Anderson: Yeah, there is a mystique to it, but also like you're talking about killers so You know, it was moral compasses slightly off But you know, it it I think it's been glorified in the movies and stuff like that But it's still it's still a unique piece of history.
Jake Lyons: Absolutely And so you're still you're still in the In the music business still working, you know booking booking acts things like that. What do you?
Chris Anderson: I don't yeah Yeah, and I don't play as much I play a little bit. I'm actually playing at regis on the south side this friday and then every year I Have a group that does attribute to warren zevon The great the late great warren zevon. We do that up at space in evanston I I just don't have the time to to do it anymore and I feel I feel like also in not playing for such a long time with with regularity I've kind of lost my chops a bit, but in all the projects that I've been in over the years I always handled the business affairs of of the bands that I've been in and I that kind of kicked open the door to really being involved on them on the business side of music And that's uh, that's led to uh booking a lot of different
Jake Lyons: places Is What's like just a common This is this can be kind of a layup question, but I think it's still a good one to ask What's a common misconception people have about? About a the neighborhood you're in now and then on a on a broader scale, you know, chicago as a city and what would you want anybody listening to uh To know that either proves that misconception true or maybe this proves it
Chris Anderson: Oh, I I mean I've experienced it firsthand. I uh, I think that people People who view chicago or get judged chicago by what they see on fox news uh really need to uh come to the city and visit it uh firsthand because It has this reputation as this uh desolate war zone And I've had friends Who've come into chicago and they'll be staying at a hotel downtown and I'll say well, you know meet me at so-and-so Uh, how do we get there? Well, you can jump into a cab. You can take the train. There's a lot of different options Like are we going to be all right? Like yes, you'll be fine.
Don't worry. Just people do this every day And so I think the news media has really painted chicago with a pretty ugly brush And uh, and that's just if you just look at statistics, that's that's that's obvious um As far as the neighborhood misconceptions of my neighborhood um That's that's a that's a really good question. I would say that it's uh some people who Think that it that it's a lively night nightlife scene um It is up till nine o'clock after that. It's about it. It's the neighborhood kind of shuts down gotcha
Jake Lyons: Right on um, well Yeah, I know you have a hard out so uh, we can definitely cut it there. Is there any other any other um, any other parting thoughts or You know things that that you would want to uh, have the audience You know take a take away from this that we if we haven't gotten to it yet
Chris Anderson: well, I I think really what I just summed up with regarding the city is that outside media outlets uh Paint this city as dangerous as out of control as a murder capital and it's just not and um, so if it's um I think You know, especially during the summertime. There's so many events going on in chicago so many free events so much culture and I think that to have a Uh of a tropless where you have this this push of you know, sports And arts and they intertwine with one another is really unique and it's something that people should should really take advantage of and from from tourists to to uh to transplants to uh To people who've grown up their whole lives here really take advantage of everything on their finger that the city offers because if you go to like the chicagricultural center And department of cultural affairs and special events. There's just there's just always something going on And uh, I think people need to take more advantage of it. Good notes Right on chris.
Jake Lyons: Hey, thank you man. Thank you for coming on here and sharing uh sharing your unique expertise and experience and I know uh, I know everyone will get a lot out of it. Thanks a lot All right.
Chris Anderson: Thank you. Take care. Stay safe. See you
