A step back in time with the world's most iconic music venues
Over 100 years of dancing the night away
Metro and Smart Bar, Chicago
Metro and Smart Bar were the birthplaces and home of Chicago’s electronic music scene. The venues' residencies, which included Frankie Knuckles, Derrick Carter and Joe Smooth, brought the safe haven of house and techno to the city and paved the way to North America’s obsession with the remarkable genres.
The location was built in 1927 as the Swedish Community Center and later converted to the Northside Auditorium Building. Metro was opened by Joe Shanahan in 1982 in the building’s fourth floor penthouse and in the following months, introduced Smart Bar as an underground dance venue. Presently, it still stands as Chicago’s mainstay destination, continuing to bring in legendary talent like Carl Craig, Jimmy Edgar and Midland.
[Photos: Northside Auditorium Building 1970s / Metro Chicago 2016]
[Photo Credit: Denver Public Library / Red Rocks / George Skadding / DC Clubbing / Zouk / Resident Advisor / Cinema Treasures / Selma Harris / Kathy Dewitt / Webster Hall / Nicky Digital / PropertyShark / Wall Street Journal / Museum of New York City / Architects' and Builders' Magazine / Alfredo Flores / Los Angeles Conversancy / LA Exchange / Art Streib / Los Angeles Times / Amnesia Ibiza / G. Murat / Getty Images]
Sydney is Mixmag's US Digital Content Editor. Follow her on Twitter here
