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Sure you may call us hipsters or yuppies or whatever, but Chicagoist thinks we’re above social labels. And, no matter what you call us, truth is, we’re sometimes a little late to the party. We know Rainbo Club at 1150 N. Damen is nothing new, but it wasn’t until recently that we stopped by. And while we enjoyed many aspects of this cozy little bar, there’s one thing we really must emphasize: hygiene matters.
Yeah, we know the I-haven’t-bathed look traces back to even before the grunge and heroin-chic ‘90s, but we haven’t been surrounded by as many unshowered types as we have when we were at Rainbo.
Now, sure, we’ve hung out at other bars where the patrons maybe aren’t so fresh, but Rainbo seems to have topped them all. And, say what you will about the striped-shirt constituents, they are reliably and freshly showered, shaved and gelled.
Cleanliness aside, the crowd at Rainbo was laid back and relaxed. The music was an eclectic mix, and we caught some Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Flaming Lips, which we enjoyed. You gotta love the photo booth and small stage. And, in our opinion, the more arcade games the better. 
Drinks were super cheap. We ordered two rum and cokes for under $7. However, the deal seemed a little less sweet once we took our first sip. Whatever the worst rum in the world is, that’s what the bartender poured. It was so harsh, we couldn’t even finish half of it. Next time, we’ll stick with beer.
In conclusion, we don’t care about your white belts or ironic tees or whatever outfit you’ve scrounged out from the thrift stores, it is never OK not to shower. So wash your hair. And, maybe run a comb through it while you’re at it. Go ahead. We’ll wait.
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This is sad, but true, and hilariously funny!
it is true... although i think there are also quite a few "showered but made up to look like im unshowered" types as well.
not sure which is worse. i love hipsters... but % are really beginning to try soo hard for the look and it shows.
I can't believe you went to the Rainbow,- one of the few eclectic and artistic bars in Chicago- and actually complained about people's hygiene as if you recognized a tipping point of good vs. bad hygiene there. And news flash, bet you were drinking bar rum. Next time ask for your brand and if its not up to par then say something, sure they would have been more than happy to refresh it. Wow what is this Chicago Social? People like you ruin the Raindow on the weekends.I would suggests you go back to Lincoln Park, but perhaps you might consider signing up for a tour in Iraq to fight for our "free-dumb "
I predict there will be a lot of comments in this thread and most of them will be self-righteous and stupid.
Aw, Spook, no need to get personal. I'll write about Tilly's next weekend - just for you.
Personally I don't think customer hygiene has anything to do with a bar review, especially when talking about Rainbo, but what do I know?
I dunno...
I think if you're reviewing a bar and wish to convey the "whole" experience, then the dress, age, hygeine, etc. of the patrons definitely figures into the equation...
I've been going regularly there for years. It's really not that bad. The best part is that it is totally frat/club guy free.
I mean, have you been to a bar in williamsburg? Rainbo is nothing close.
Also, don't hate, appreciate!
I think you are generally on-target in your assessment of this bar, but come on, let the funksters have their FUNK . . . it's no more offensive than the facemelting perfume vapor you get in many of the upscale bars and restaurants. I kinda like Rainbo but I find the room to be a little unsettling, as it is a tall, well-lighted box where everything's open. it is not a bar where you can slouch down and not be people-watching fodder for other patrons. for this reason and many others I prefer its sister bar, the impeccably appointed Skylark, which also seems to have a no-blondes policy.
You're not getting any Myspace adds with this post.
I'm with MikeH on this one. I'd want to know what kind of people are at a bar before I frequent it. If a bar caters to cannibals, for instance, that's good information to know. Or, similarly, if it caters to moneyed professionals, Cubs fans, rock stars, or, in this case, the unwashed.
Goldstar is WAY worse. Give Rainbo a *few* more months. By the end of the summer it will be full of shiny blondes and loads of perfume....and they will be wearing white belts from Urban Outfitters to 'fit in'.
Dive Bar Spook says Rainbo is "one of the few eclectic and artistic bars in Chicago." I might have agreed with that a few years ago, but now... I dunno. Just another divey bar to me with a way-too-pretentious weekend crowd.
Also I should note that I work daily with students at Northwestern University, and have lost count of the number of times students have told me (after finding out I live near it) that they make the long-ass CTA hike to the Rainbo from Evanston each weekend because "Wilco hangs out there."
I love this post 'cause I'm hoping it scares a lot of people away from Rainbo and leaves it to those of us who've enjoyed going there since before the neighborhood transformation.
I was upset to learn that when Teenage Fanclub was recording their last album in Chicago, they went to Rainbo every evening for a pint. It would have been cool to say hi.
I have no hipster/yuppie comments ... already been done repeatedly here.
I just like Teenage Fanclub.
i can think of at least one place with a cool jukebox, a [mostly] laidback vibe, a fun photobooth and patrons who don't staaank.
Regarding hygeine: I think the important point is this--do the people just look like they're unwashed, or do they smell like it? I find the Rainbo crowds usually doesn't reek of unwashedness, and that's all that matters to me.
Regarding rum: There's cheap rum that can be masked with Coke, and there's rum that has leached industrial chemicals from the plastic bottle in which it is packaged. There is a big difference.
James: you wouldn't be speaking of the Holiday Club you? Shhhh....
Rainbo will be replaced by some yuppie bullshit soon enough so drink up. Have you been by what used to be Wicker Park; MADBAR etc.? It's a fuckin Abacrombie catalog and pit bulls are the new mulatto baby. Bird flu can't get here soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
p.s.
I bathe regularly.
So what's the next article going to be?
The Cubby Bear is great (except for all those frat guys)
Sidetracks is great (but too many gays)
I like water (but its too wet)
Although serious posturing and intentional bedhead are rampant I've never noticed any bad smell, but maybe to Hannah I smell too. And yep the well-heeled types have been slumming there on the weekends for years.
You know, it would be better if there were only 10 patrons--all of the locals and true artists--hanging out on weekend nights, nursing only the beer on special. Then Rainbo could close down for lack of business, and Banana Republic could finally get a store in the area!
It's a fuckin Abacrombie catalog and pit bulls are the new mulatto baby. Bird flu can't get here soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
oh, that's brilliant right there. esp love the part re: pit bulls -- so true!
oh my god, I went to a bar once... ordered a rum and coke, didn't recognize any of the music playing, couldn't get over the fact that some guy smelled funky, and just sat there text messaging my significant other in Kenilworth. Can I write a story about it too?
"freshly gelled"......ew!
so sick of that look.
stay in Lakeview, Hanna.
You know, it would be better if there were only 10 patrons--all of the locals and true artists--hanging out on weekend nights, nursing only the beer on special. Then Rainbo could close down for lack of business
Oh leah,
Wonder why so defensive? personally I don't go there on weekends much anymore and never did too much in the past anyway so I'm certainly not mourning any 'good ole' days' but if you want to take obviously true observations personally, have at it babe.
If one were truly trying to go and sit at a bar that it's already a hipster bar, you wouldn't write about it on a northside centered hipster website.
I love the fact that you're always year too late to see what it was before the gentrification of the neighborhood ruined a great bar. There are still tons of them left and I'm hoping to not read about them here for years to come....
I have absolutely no opinion about the rainbo.
I love it how people get so worked up over their "scene". Good stuff. Oh, and take a shower.
[Insert name of hipster bar] was so cool when just my friends and I were hangin' out there, but then all you yuppies/chads/trixies/gentrifiers had to come and ruin everything!
Guess what? There were probably regulars hanging out there for years who said the same things when you and your friends first started showing up. Get over yourselves...
I live two blocks away from Rainbo and that place amuses me ... but then again the neighborhood amuses me, I'm there because it is a gentrified neighborhood and, I like the amenties and I have a great apartment for dirt cheap, people who move there who think they are slumming it should be kicked, hard. Once in awhile I'll stop in but I'm 'too old for that sh*t' for the most part (I'm in my 30's and half that crowd looks like they are drinking on fake IDs). However, if you get there before all the cool kids come and grab a booth, it isn't a bad place to have a few drinks.
But c'mon guys, this crowd is pretty milk-toast. You guys want an 'interesting' bar crowd, check out Leroy's Hot Stuff Biker Bar in Northwest Indiana. My dad is friends with a guy who used to play in a blues band there on occasion, you want to see some interesting hygiene? But don't you dare mention it or you'll find yourself holding your front teeth in your hand. The night I went I saw two fist fights break out before I left.
Sweet Navin,
I'm not all that worked up, and I just feel like arguing with strangers today. You, too?
Me? I prefer the Pressure Cooker in Enid, Oklahoma. It's a biker bar; they have horseshoes and used to have the Addams Family Movie pinball game, so you know they're keeping it real.
What I find hilarious yet fitting is that so many people who value, no WORSHIP, irony and cynicism above everything else spend so much time arguing about how genuine they, and by extension the places and things they like, are.
What I find hilarious yet fitting
And also fascinating eh, earnest, he he.
re Addams Family,
Yep that's a fun one but my all time fave is "Star Trek The Next Generation" where you get to actually shoot pinballs, good stuff.
Your right, Stephen,I just felt bad about pointing out publicly that the Rainbow(and soon the Gold Star)has "crossed over"- like Dreamers did to Nicks- out of respect to the original Rainbow heads like "Rainbow Forever" whom I'm sorry to say are living in the glorious past of the Rainbow, sorry.
That's why Anna' comments are all the more ludicrously ironic. But I guess she is serious about repping"representing" the North Shore to the fullest by saying that a bar full of people in Wicker Park stinks. Of course I would say certain bars stink in Wicker Park for completely opposite reasons which have nothing to do with Hygiene, but every thing to do with a North Shore mentality. AND There is no such bar as the Skylark bar "Makingspain"! Its closed forever( So Stay away people) and when it was open every one smelled like really really bad, including me! I wouldn't wash for weeks before going there just like the unwashed Hells Angels, Latin Kings, Outlaws, Black Gangster Disciples, Insane Unknowns, Crips, Bloods, Two Sixers,Hare Krishnas, Scientologist, Jehovah's Witnesses shiks, and members of the Nation of Islam that still hang around, unwashed in the building that use to house the Skylark bar. So stay away, this means you! Unless you like what the Raindow, Dreamers, and Gold Star use to be
p.s and for you NPR listeners too high brow/ above it all to engage in this conversation. Move on to another topic for crying out loud, like the Cubs or something. This is what Chicagoist is about
4th comment from the top...
Joel, way to call your shot.
Thank you. I have always wondered about this place. I might even go there; it will take me back to a European trip in I took one August. That was RIPE!
sorry Spook you are right, I forgot to mention that the Skylark was sucked into a BO-scented vortex due do being situated on an ancient burial ground, so no point trying to go down there folks, nothing to see. I think it is NAMBLA headquarters now.
Look, the Guns and Roses pinball game rules the school and I will hear no arguments to the contrary.
Time for the old standby
Why aren't indie hipsters good at karate?
they can't get past the white belts.
and one more since it's past 5pm.
What do indie hipster's grandmother and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth have in common?
Their Age!
Thanks I'll be at Harrah's Joliet all weekend long.
Spybar > Everything else.
The yuppie runts with "c"'s, Instead of "r"'s are SO freaking smug about every shittin' little thing.....So they'll complain to their savior Ted Matlak.
For me, it's a toss-up between The Addams Family, The Twilight Zone and Theatre of Magic for all-time coolest pinball game...
Addams Family all the way.
Smith, you are totally high if you think GNR is better!
who gives a fuck about the rainbo room? and why did chicagoist need to do a piece about it? everyone knows what it is and has an opinion on it one way or the other.
in related news, maybe if tankboy got high he'd realize the GNR pinball machine is the fucking bomb.
heck, maybe it'd help him realize that pearl jam hasn't been relevant in more than a decade!
And so some are reduced to arguing about pinball games, after the arguments about stinky drunk people wind down?
Rock on . . .
I saw pearl jam on SNL the other night with lindsay lohan. that is relevant enough for me.
I was always partial to that Back to the Future pinball game.
Hey "Some Asshole"! Your so right dude that's why the super enlighten "Joel"(4th comment from the top...) who "calls his shots" cause he is so freak'n cool and "s" who calls himself "s" and I'm sure "calls his shots" as well because he is also so freak'n cool(in other words todays dorks who use to get their lunch money taken in grade school)are gonna come up with an alternative to the Chiacgoist if you will, to more enlighten us so we can better gaze up at the mountain top on which they reside. But until then
buck o, You and Tanky both need to step the *%$# off with that wack &*$#@ and better recognize CENTIPEDE is still da bomb, What!
And anon have you notice that Ted Matlack looks like that Zombie from Dawn of the Dead who runs into the helicopter blade? I triple double dare you to take his pulse next time you see him!
And thanks for ruining the Sky Lark, “Mackingspain”! even though it was situated on a ancient burial ground, with that evil doll Chucky dishing out drinks from behind the bar, etc, It still was such a cool place before you showed up with your lil homies, David Koresh, Pe We Herman and that whole Heaven's Gate crew, all unbathed, ya perv!
Tankboy, thanks for agreeing. It ruled the school, and you can still relive your glory days upstairs at Delilah's. Hell yeah!
someone said skylark is closed in here. It's not closed. At least not that I know of.
oh come on! rainbo is plastic. i like the bar, but if you think it's too divey you have to be made out of ivory. i am cordially extending you an invitation to the mutiny: 2428 n. western. we're REAL dirty up there.
oh wait...rainbo isn't a gay bar? i thought it was a gay bar? you know...rainbo powah! i love you you love me...you live he...she love she? oh ok...this must be the wrong bar...i like GNR cuz they g-tards!
Anon
I can vouch for the dirtiness, the griminess of the Mutiny, yea its goooooddd luv'n there
I came across these comments and found them extremely ironic. First, the comments by Hanna about hygiene were ridiculous. Some people have BO and that is just the way life is, especially in a bar. On the North Shore you find people with BO but have dumped gallons of toilet water on themselves to cover it up. Get over it and learn how to order a frickin drink.
As for you anti-establishment types who seem angry because they have been invaded by striped shirts and "hipsters", get over yourselves. By "just expressing yourself" in your thrifted clothes and tattoos and piercings, you are just being followers of the anti-establishment click - and by doing so you are doing the exact same thing for which you judge yuppies and hipsters. How ironic! Are you insecure? Do you feel that yuppies are judging you because you where that Stones T you found in a box at Salvation Army. No one cares! If you truly want to be what you hold yourself out to be, let people where there striped shirts, polka-dot shirts, thrifted T shirts, or whatever else they want to where without looking down your ironically "being pretentious because you are anti-pretentious" nose at yuppies. Yes, there are several North Side snobs, but we are not all that way.
Some of us know how to order a drink, sit and chill and mind our own effing business while enjoying diversity. Not all dirt, not all clean, somewhere in between.
Blah Blah Blah
I used to hate on Rainbo....and then I started going...ALOT.The drinks are cheap and very stiff.The staff is friendly but very direct.The music is awesome.The photo booth has been the starting point of many sexual encounters.I seriously love Rainbo.
Best.Bar.Ever.