Au Chevals Brendan Sodikoff Sues Manager of Three Arts Club
HUMBOLDT PARK — About ii years after an abrupt closure and legal battle with the previous owner, Chicago staple The California Clipper is set to reopen to the public Thursday with the aforementioned look and feel as the original.
The Orbit Group, a new hospitality group that opened Italian restaurant Segnatore across from the street, spent the past year resurrecting the beloved bar at 1002 North. California Ave. The issue is almost identical to the previous iteration, save for a lounge surface area that took over coffee shop C.C. Ferns' old infinite and a top-of-the-line audio organisation.
Its signature red lights and cozy vinyl booths have not changed, nor take its erstwhile wooden bar — details people have come to associate with the tavern.
"We really wanted to stay true to its history and give it a little bit of love without changing the ambiance and how information technology feels," said Briana Martin, of Siren Betty Design, the business firm tapped to overhaul the space.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago Perhaps the biggest change, and one audiophiles will capeesh: The Orbit Group completely overhauled the bar'south outdated sound system with help from sound engineers Chris Grabowski and Herman Chigrin. The bar is now outfitted with the "Ferrari" of sound systems, including Tannoy speakers, Grabowski said.
With its audio-visual paneling, the bar'southward lounge area, which is where C.C. Ferns used to be, is a listening room specifically designed for enjoying drinks — and music.
"Those speakers are in Abbey Route studios. Those speakers are what they mixed 'Dark Side of the Moon' on. So if yous come in here, and you listen to that record, you should be able to become equally close to possible as the moment they were making it," Grabowski said.
As information technology did before the pandemic, The Clipper will regularly host alive music. Bands and performers volition grace the stage twice a calendar week if the pandemic allows, said Jesse Sandvik, the bar's music supervisor. The hospitality grouping too plans to bring back monthly burlesque shows and add other regular events to its calendar, like drag king shows.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Lodge Chicago As for drinks, the hospitality grouping is keeping it simple and offering an assortment of classic cocktails like The Matador and The Cardinale, besides every bit staples catering to the community, similar Puerto Rico's beer of choice, Medalla Light, Polish drinks and the Chicago handshake, a shot of Malort and an Erstwhile Style.
Just because the Clipper has been updated doesn't hateful it's suddenly a craft cocktail bar, assistant manager Marta Jean Evans said. Quite the reverse is true: The hospitality group aims to pay homage to the history of the bar and the fast-irresolute neighborhood with a menu that feels familiar, she said.
"Nosotros're trying to make sure we're existence respectful to this neighborhood that's been here for a long time that is honestly being gentrified then quickly, and we desire to make sure that we're not just snowballing on that," Jean Evans said. "Nosotros want to make sure that the neighborhood knows how community oriented nosotros're going to be, and how respectful we're going to be of the bricks they laid before us."
The rebirth of the Clipper comes subsequently a rocky ii years for the bar.
Previous owner Brendan Sodikoff, who owns several popular restaurants and bars in Chicago, including Au Cheval and Light-green Street Smoked Meats, abruptly close downward the Clipper and neighboring coffee store C.C. Ferns in May 2020, saying he couldn't make rent because of the pandemic.
Emails provided by the edifice's landlord, Gino Battaglia, showed Sodikoff wanted out of the lease.
Battaglia filed a lawsuit against Sodikoff, accusing him of skipping out on the rent and damaging the bar in the procedure. The parties reached a settlement in the case last March, making way for the Orbit Group to step in and bring the bar back to life.
From day 1, the Orbit Group has been chiefly interested in maintaining the integrity of the tavern, which has been in operation since the 1930s but has hosted live music and other forms of entertainment since at least 1914, when it was known equally the L.L. Freeman Theater, according to the hospitality group.
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Gild Chicago In upgrading the space, the Orbit Group crew restored the Clipper's sign to resemble the mid-century 19th century clipper ship it was designed for. It took the boards off the front windows and replaced them with defunction, though the squad does non program to keep the curtains open during service. The bar will always take that night red glow, no matter the time of night.
"We tried to create a infinite we all wanted to come into. We tried to bring it back to its original spirit and soul as much as possible, and nosotros hope that anybody tin can feel the spirit inside of it and feel the drive," Jean Evans said.
There'south simply one matter left to do, she said.
"Allow's have some fun, man. Let's throw a party."
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Gild Chicago 
Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Social club Chicago 
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Source: https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/02/22/the-california-clipper-reopens-this-week-under-new-ownership-after-going-dark-for-more-than-two-years/
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