1) Do not stay out in the western suburbs. Its a hotbed of LE the past 6 months
2) What remains of the punk scene is in Wicker Park. Go to the Double Door. Its our version of CBGB. There's a another bar, Subterranean, around the corner from there that has bands in that genera sometimes too. And yet another place, the Empty Bottle, is about a half mile away from that. WP is about 10 min west of downtown Chicago. Cabs aplenty and the Damen blueline El stop is about 100 yards away from the DD.
I guess i don't know what else you are looking for nightlife wise but there's about 6 pockets of various (and very different) social scenes within a 4 mile radius of downtown.
Drop me a PM if you have any questions. I go out way too much.
|