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Chicago · Venue

Schubas Tavern

A 200-capacity Lakeview music room inside a restored 1903 Schlitz tied house, with the original tavern character up front and concerts in the back.

Upcoming shows
74
Capacity
200
Address
3159 North Southport Avenue, Chicago, IL 60657
Phone
(773) 525-2508
Next show
Sun, 15 Nov 2026
Official siteDirections
Schubas Tavern in Chicago

About Schubas Tavern

Schubas Tavern is a 200-capacity concert venue in Chicago’s Lakeview, pairing a working neighborhood bar with a compact music room. Its distinguishing feature sits in plain sight: the 1903 building began as a Schlitz Brewery tied house, and two Schlitz globes still mark the corner façade on Southport and Belmont. That brewery-era shell gives a show here a distinctly tavern-scale setting before anyone reaches the stage.

A brewery house becomes a music room

Schlitz built the building in 1903 as a tied house, a bar designed to pour a single brewery’s beer. Chris and Michael Schuba bought it over 80 years later, restoring the 30-foot Brunswick mahogany bar, tin ceilings, walnut wainscoting, exterior details, and Schlitz globe; they renovated the rear concert hall with a used sound system and lighting for weekend shows. Schubas opened under the brothers’ name in 1989.

A sharper recent chapter arrived with the pandemic. The tavern closed in October 2020, then reopened its bar on June 23, 2021; live music returned the following evening after a pause stretching back to March 2020. The reopening placed a full 200 people back in the room, a useful measure of how concentrated the experience feels when a bill draws a full house.

The room today

Expect general-admission shows unless an event says otherwise, with seating unguaranteed; the venue advises arriving about 60 minutes early for the strongest position in the music room. Schubas programs a broad mix centered on indie and rock, alongside pop, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, folk, and alternative bills. The layout delivers the old tavern first, then the renovated concert hall at the back; the restored mahogany bar and tin-ceiling details make pre-show time part of the visit.

Sources

  1. Schubas / Lincoln Hall information — Schubas Tavern / Lincoln Hall
  2. Five music venues with significant architecture — Chicago Architecture Center
  3. Chicago’s former tied houses once linked with Schlitz and other breweries offer a window to history — CBS Chicago
  4. Schubas Tavern in Lakeview reopens — FOX 32 Chicago

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