Where can my Turkish cousin and I go dancing in Chicago?

August 3, 2009 9:02 AM

Where can I take my 17 year old cousin for Chicago nightlife?

My 17 year old cousin Kemal-Mark is coming to visit me in Chicago, and we have a nicely filled schedule of stuff to do during the day, but now I'm trying to figure out where to take him at night.

He's not interested in booze (and I know that wouldn't be possible anyway), but he does really like danceclubs/discos-- the two of us enjoy going to clubs/etc when we meet at family gatherings in Istanbul or Hamburg, so I'm trying to find someplace around Chicago (northern side, preferably) to go dancing.

I know that a lot of places check identification for entry to insure that a person is of drinking age-- is there a procedure where he can affirm to the doorman/whoever that he's only interested in dancing?

Where can we go? Other nightlife suggestions?

posted by Seeba to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

Zero Gravity out in Naperville is apparently the spot for the club kids. In the city proper, you need a special permit to own a club that allows folks under 18 in the door, which means every couple of years someone tries to open one and goes bankrupt immediately.

You might want to check in with Beat Kitchen, Metro, or Subterranean. None are dance clubs per se, but they have all-ages shows on a fairly regular basis.
posted by eamondaly at 9:15 AM on August 3, 2009

For hanging out, I always recommend Castaways out on North Avenue Beach, upstairs. Great view of the city, the lake, and the general beach-going public. Also, TimeOut Chicago just had a pretty good list of 50 things to do before summer ends that might give you some ideas.
posted by eamondaly at 9:21 AM on August 3, 2009

Response by poster: Awesome-- a followup to the club question--- eamondaly, have you ever been to any of the places?
I ask because they look like good ideas, but I'm curious to the populations of the places; when we go, will I be acceptable there as well? (I'm willing to dance with anyone of any age--- but accept that as a 24 yr old 6'4" guy, I should probably make sure there're not just 17-18 year olds... the Zero Gravity place looks like it wouldn't even let me in, as I'm above their age limits)
posted by Seeba at 9:33 AM on August 3, 2009

I've never been to Zero Gravity, so I don't have any first-hand knowledge, unfortunately. I had no idea they had an upper age limit! You might also want to look into Energy Thursday, which again I have no first-hand knowledge of, but I've heard is pretty huge. Looks like it's 17+ with no upper limit.

Beat Kitchen is hipsterish, Subterranean even more so, and Metro is all over the place. No issues whatsoever for folks in their 20s.
posted by eamondaly at 9:43 AM on August 3, 2009

I grew up in a town next to Zero Gravity, and it had a reputation of being a sketchy place where older guys went to hit on underage girls. That may have changed. I think they're under new ownership now, since it's open as a 21+ club some nights, and the upper age limit may have helped as well.
posted by bassooner at 10:21 AM on August 3, 2009

The Chicago Reader has fairly comprehensive music listings online. You can sort by all-ages shows, but that leaves out the 17+ and 18+ events. Here are all the dance listings, and there's one 17+ show.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:32 AM on August 3, 2009

You should head up to the Arkadash for dinner and dancing. It's on Clark north of Foster somewhere. I always found this a very nice place to bring people - there's food, you can drink but you don't have to drink, and there is a dance floor and on some nights belly dancing. Very nice crowd also.
posted by kensington314 at 4:47 PM on August 3, 2009

Sadly, Arkadash closed a month ago.
posted by eamondaly at 11:47 AM on August 4, 2009