"Life Has A Flavor The Timid Never Taste"

Double Door brought the best in local, regional, national and international music and performance to Chicago for over 24 years. 

The Iconic Double Door known as the CBGB’s of Chicago began its run in 1994 in the Wicker Park neighborhood. 

Double Door was born from the inspiration of its owner Sean Mulroney from his experience in touring with his band and playing in mid to small rooms around the country. 

Double Door was conceived to fill a hole in the music venue landscape. Bands performing in Chicago played rooms like Lounge Ax, Orphans, and Gasbar’s with capacities of 100 people or so. The next step was Metro that holds 1,100. This was a huge jump. 

Double Door was built to hold 550 people making in the perfect size for bands to evolve and grow into bigger rooms. 

The idea behind Double Door was to create a space that looked and felt like it had always been there …. A dirty Rock and Roll Club. But to make it work and be the success it became, Double Door was committed to having the best sound, lights and production of any club its size in the country. 

Due to its basis in Sean’s touring small venues, Double Door was also committed to treating each band or Act as if they were the headliner. That meant that Double Door had dressing rooms for all bands and set each room up with true hospitality. It sounds simple but Double Door had beer of their choice and water for every performer. 

The New Double Door will carry forward all the things that made the Double Door Brand so special. 

We will set up shop at 1050 W. Wilson, in the heart of the Uptown Theater District. This amazing building was built as a burlesque theater in 1909 and converted to a bank in 1919. It was used as such until about 20 years ago. The building presents itself dramatically both inside and out. It has a beautiful limestone exterior and inside has a 30-foot arched ceiling with the original terra cotta throughout its interior. 

That in conjunction with the massive period bank safes make it an exciting and unique new home. It is our intension to let the building talk to us. We will marry the many salvaged parts of the Original Double Door (such as the signs and interior art and artifacts) with the beauty of the building. This will be an adventure. 

The new Double Door will use the same 2 venue approach as before. It is anticipated that Double Door will have 450 people on the 1st floor, 120 in the mezzanine and over 100 in the lower level. The lower level will feature the period vault as one of the coolest areas to hang and will have state of the art sound. It will be open to the public every day. The upstairs will be open for the larger shows and events and there will be times when there will be performances on both levels.