The Checkerboard Lounge is Back!!

The Checkerboard, one of the last of the legendary South Side blues clubs (formerly at 43rd and King), reopens tonight in Hyde Park. It will be very interesting to see how the club does in its new location.

Rene,

where exactly in Harper court is that? the old movie theater? across the street in the 1st floor?

It’s the old Women’s Workout World, the northernmost building in the Harper Court complex. I walked by last night around midnight and longtime owner L C Thurman was nice enough to invite me in to look around. It really seems like a good room for music but it’s very, very different from the original Checkerboard.

Rene G wrote:It really seems like a good room for music but it’s very, very different from the original Checkerboard.

That was pretty much my feeling when I saw the video on last night's news. Looks like it will be more comfortable (in a way), and there's no smoking (I went to the old lounge in '99 with my sister-in-law from Colorado; we were there five minutes before she said, "Isn't there a blues bar we could go to where there's no smoke?" At the time, I could only say "NO."). Still, I think we'll all miss the funk.

Hammond