Club Foot Loses Lease, Closing In November
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 4, 2014 6:00PM
We admit we meet news of most small business closings in the Bucktown / Wicker Park / Ukranian Village area with a shrug nowadays: face it, most of that area's cool left long ago. But there were always a few holdouts in the mix that at least allowed us to fool ourselves into thinking some semblance of the area's past could still thrive amongst the constantly rising property values. One of those bastions—one of the few left fighting the good fight—was Club Foot. But it appears that even Club Foot can no longer survive in the area they occupied long before it was hip (or face it, even safe) to hang out in that neighborhood.
Club Foot co-owner Chuck Uchida made the heavy-hearted announcement on his Facebook page this morning:
It is with a heavy heart that we must announce that Club Foot will be closing November 15th. This due to a massive rent increase that we cannot afford.<> Now would be the time to come visit again if you haven't been for a while. We have lots of theme parties planned in the time left so don't wait 'til the last minute to come visit. Enjoy us as much as you can, while you can.
<> We'd like to thank those of you who supported us loyally over the years, we couldn't have done it without you. You are what made Club Foot great and the legend it is.
<> We don't know what our future holds but hope you'll be a part of it.
Thanks again, Chuck and Lauree
Full disclosure: In the 90s, Club Foot was my first doorman, and then bartending, job in Chicago. You'll note that Chuck's announcement has none of the rancor of my own introductory paragraph above. This is because Chuck and Lauree have both always been class acts. I know they've seen Club Foot through times both fat and lean, and through it all they never changed their approach to business—love what you do and who you surround yourself with—or the decor of the bar. The Devo outfit on their wall itself has probably seen Devo itself go through five or six phases of hipster popularity and pop cultural darkness.
So, you have until Nov. 15 to get in there and raise a final toast to one of the oldest truly punk rock (in all the positive aspects that entails and none of the negative judgmental ones some folks taint it with) establishments in Chicago.