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The
No Exit Cafe
6970 North Glenwood
Chicago, IL, 60626 USA
Phone: (773) 743-3355
For booking, please go to the
contact
us page for all booking information.
Then, please contact: Brettly
In addition to being host to
several theatrical performances, book readings, music
and more, the No Exit cafe is also available for private
parties, gatherings, political events, and more, which
can be catered by the Heartland Cafe. Just contact Brettly.
Hours
We are open about one
hour prior to show time, and close with in one hour
of the shows ending.
The No Exit serves food and beverages
for the public events that we host
Our delightful
space is available for special events, rehearsals, meetings,
film shoots and parties.
Historical Essay
by Susan Kozin
"It's a magical place, a
place that will grab by the scruff of the neck and not
let go." I am trying to explain the Exit to customers
who are new to the place. "Not everyone will see
it that way. They will come in have coffee and leave,
they don't get it. The Exit grabbed me in '68, it took
me 31 years to shake the grasp."
The No Exit Cafe/Gallery began in Evanston, Illinois,
in September 1958 by two Northwestern University students,
Bill Harmon and Dick McKernan. Housed in a narrow store
front next to the Foster El station, No
Exit became the hang out for the beat generation college
student. Word is that Sorority girls could be deplegded
if they were seen in the cafe. N was called abeatnik
coffeehouse, but the economic and social diversity could
be well noted with the clientele.
About three months after the cafe opened, Joe Moorewas
hired to run the cafe.After nine months Joe bought out
Harmon and McKernon. Joining the college student crowd
were the racing crowd, the writers like Frank Robinson
and the folk singers like Art Thieme1 Dodi Kallack,
and Judy Bright. In the following years singers like,
Steve Goodman, Harry Wailer, Michael Smith, Claudia
Schmidt, Christy Moore, Blues man Jim Brewer, Pat Clinton,
Couple a Fat Guys, Jim Craig and somany more have graced
the stage.
Brian Kozin started hanging out in 1961 during the hay
day of the Joe Moore ownership. During the early 60's
the expresso was hot and the Jazz was cool. Ira Sullivan
led a jazz combo on Saturday afternoon's. Brian also
remembers one night after Jim Brewer finished his set,
he needed a ride back to the west side. Brian offered
to takehim in Joe Moore's car. Joe asked if Brian could
drive. "Sure I can drive." Brian replied.
Several month later Brian came into the Exit and proudly
showed off his new drivers license. "I thought
you had a license" exclaimed Moore. "No, you
asked if I could drive" was Kozin's retort.
When Northwestern University bought the building No
Exit was in to add student housing in '67, Moore started
looking in Rogers Park for the new location. No Exit
opened at Lunt and Glenwood on December 7th, 1967. It
didn't take long for a wholelot of new regulars to join
the old one's. Sue Kozin was one of them. "I moved
up from the far south side town of Harvey because I
was told of this great coffeehouse opening up"
said Sue. "It took me a couple of months of peering
in the door before I walked in." By spring I was
waiting tables Thursday nights and Steve Goodman was
the entertainment. 1968 was a year of politics and demon-strations.
The '68 Democratic convent-ion and the protest riots
against the Viet Nam war became a hot topic around the
regulars table. No Exit was a polling place and Rogers
Park was then part of the regular Democratic machine.
The room became even more enriched with tie dyed Hippies
interspersed with the business types. Everyone seemed
to coexist. No Exit settled into music, chess and car
racing.
In 1972, Joe Moore and his wife Joanne decided to buy
an old resort in Fort Atkenson,Wisconsin. He then sold
No Exit to Peter Steinberg, his long time manager. The
first thing Steinberg did was to get rid of the racing
crowd and throw a chair through thetrophy case. This
was Stein-berg's gesture of freedom. The Japanese game
of G0 replaced chess.Mathematicians and computer programmers
replaced the race car drivers. Folk music was still
the staple part of the culture. Times were good and
there were many venues on Chicago for music. No Exit
prospered through the efforts of many artists who were
working for the satisfaction of the performance. Howard
Berkman, Art Thieme, and Dan and Roxanne Kedding, Mike
Dougal and Al Day became featured performers. The gallery
space was also in use by new area artists. Ned Broderick
and Pete Peterson, returning Vet Nam vet's displayed
works both humorous and grim views of life and war.
Brian and Sue Kozin purchased No Exit from Peter Steinberg
in April 1977. For Sue this was a realization put into
motion some seven years earlier. "The one thing
Joe Moore did was to educate me in the right and wrong
ways to run a coffeehouse." according to Sue. Brian
seconded that statement. We took our time and returned
the cafe back to the vintage 50's and 60's. We retained
singers like Art Theme and Howard Berkman, and added
the talent ofMichael Smith, Suzy Boggus, Rosalie Sorels,
Pat McDonald (who later headed the group Timbuk 3) and
Andrew Calhoun to give a short list. Jazz was re-instituted
on Saturday and Sunday afternoons with Bob Dogan, Jennie
Lambert, Merle Boley, Doug Lofstrom, and tradiation
was kept alive with Mike Finnerty and Mike Linn. Improv
theatre was also instituted with Let's Have Lunch in
the 80's and Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre now in it's
eighth year. Bang Bang was one of many spring boards
to send talent to Hollywood movie and TV land.
The Kozin's managed the coffeehouse and raised three
ids in the process. According to Brian they have met
everyone from rocket scientist to murders. "With
our son David being the first, we have had some 23 children
born to the regular's over the years" mentioned
Sue. At the beginning of the holiday season every year
No Exit hosted a Thanksgiving potluck dinner the last
Sunday of November. This gave Brian and Sue a chance
to relax and spend time with the customers, musicians
and friends around No Exit. This tradition lasted the
whole 22 years of the Kozin ownership.
The decor was a eclectic as it's customers. Either there
were too many plants and some were donated, or a person
was moving and didn't need the Elk antlers. A painting
of James Dean was left one day. The Armadillo was the
gift of a waitress. The library of text books came from
many students. The paperback book library was take one
bring one back. There was a student doing his Cultural
Anthropology paper on the No Exit. He spent a week catalogingeverything
in the cafe.
In 1983 a building was bought and volunteers built a
new and permanent No Exit Cafe. The building bought
was an old gentlemen's card playing club, The Sherman
Bridge Club, and they didn't play bridge and no women
were allowed. For several years after the move, Cadillacs
and Lincoln Continentals would drive slowly by looking
for the bridge club. "We tried to change the decor,
and brighten the place" according to Brian. "But
the customers stayed away until the burlap and curio's
went back on the walls."
Like any thing else you do for twenty years, there comes
a time to stop. For the Kozin's it was the years of
no vacations and the children growing up. It was time
to pack it up. Lesley Kozin tried to keep the cafe open
one more year, but it proved too much for her. "We
made it look too easy" said Sue "There's so
much that's not seen. The prep work and shopping and
bills to pay the people to hire and train. It takes
time." No Exit closed June 30, 1999. Brian took
some offers, nothing serious until Michael James and
Katy Hogan came along. No Exit has been saved, and reopened
February 24, 2000
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Happenings
in the Historic No Exit Cafe
The No Exit Cafe is Now Open for
Weekend Brunch and Dinner
That's Right
Every Saturday and Sunday from 9 AM until 2 PM
For Brunch
and Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday
for Dinner from 6 pM til the show ends
Come by, relax, eat Breakfast and enjoy!
EVENTS IN THE NO EXIT
Tuesday, July 8th at 7 pM
Wednesday, July 9th at 6:30 PM
Theo Ubique Theatre Co.
(in association with Michael James)
Presents
Jacques Brel’s Lonesome Losers of the Night
Following the trials of two sailors at port in a bar
in Amsterdam , we witness how relationships
bloom and wilt through the magical lyricism of Jacques
Brel. A new musical of love, loss, and hope, Jacques
Brel’s Lonesome Losers of the Night promises to
be a spectacular new work.
Theo Ubique has teamed up with translator Arnold Johnston*
to bring to life some of Jacques Brel’s most beloved
works of art. Many of the songs in Jacques Brel’s
Lonesome Losers of the Night have never before been
heard or translated in the English Language.
Brel's widow said that Arnold Johnston, a professor
at Western Michigan University, translated Brel's work
more accurately than others and eventually gave Dr.
Johnston exclusive rights to translate Brel's work into
English.
WHEN:
PREVIEW:
Wednesday, JUNE 4, 2008
Thursday, JUNE 5, 2008 at 8pm
OPENING NIGHT: Friday, JUNE 6, 2008 at 8:00pm
Runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pM, Sundays at 7:00
through Sunday, August 31st
FEATURING:
Music and Lyrics by Jacques Brel
English translations by Arnold Johnston
Conceived by Fred Anzevino and Arnold Johnston
Directed by Fred Anzevino
Musical and Arrangements by Joshua Stephen Kartes
Choreography by David Heimann
Performances by:
Chris Damiano, Jeremy Trager,
Eric Martin, and Jenny Lamb
(*denotes Theo Ubique Company member)
Scenes from Recent
Democracy Burlesque performances
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