The Orphanage

They used to host events every week, and now every couple of months. There is something magical about this place. How often do you go to a show and truly feel a part of a family?! The variety of acts is vast, the food is homemade and excellent, and the people are so friendly. A true all-​ages experience, from kids to retirees. The art corner is cool, with coloring and art supplies for anyone to use.
I love this place, it’s a creative home to many young and old.
PS I dance with hula hoops and it’s really fun :-) just let us know if it is bothering you and we’ll get out of your face— I love how all types of dance can interact with the music here. The dance floor is large and the people are non-​judgemental.
A great space filled with pure joy!

There is a need to keep these kind of places open, the underground venue, they are our cultural blood-​bank, it is the centrifuge for creativity, where we share our synapses of a good idea before it’s given a shallow grave.
The Orphanage, is of course, above ground, in fact, on the third floor. Ten dollar donation gets you food, lots of DIY music that is welcoming to a new genre, lots of new interesting people, to talk to, to meet, which of course is the best part. It’s on the near South Side (Bridgeport, aka, parking) and easily accessible. BYOB is the pathos, and the love of music is shared in the air. Killer floor to stand, millions of couches, clean, colorful, always fun.
Be here now.

There was a concert there this Saturday night Aug 20 2011, it ran from about 6pm to 11ish. There were six bands and it was pretty good. Lots of younger hipsters, and also students from IIT and UIC– those two categories do overlap, lol. I’m glad that this place is open again!
Event page:
Their main organizing location:

Performed here once with my band and had a good time. There is a $ 10 donation to get in, but it’s worth it to partake in their all you can eat vegan food. The chef named, «Spoon» is a great cook! The sound was okay. We were a loud noise rock band, and they had a little trouble getting the sound right, but our amps took care of it just fine. I look forward to seeing shows there and even performing again with my new band.

Dear BYOB friend, can you tell me what church you go to that allows people to bring in their own alcohol? Then I won’t have to stay home on Sunday mornings. The food is delicious, vegetarian friendly, and worth the $ 10 dollars, moreover, I am sure if you are too poor to afford it, they will let you in. Did you ask? I think if you spend $ 10 dollars on crappy food, games, smack, whatever you may be into, you can give $ 10 to an organization that is inviting you in, and creating a vehicle for artists to communicate there message through music, and by the way they have food, tea, and when I went delicious tiny cake piece treats. As an artist, its hard enough finding places to let you play, and I would be honored to play for free at a place like this to keep people coming in to support it. I never saw any Hula dancers, or New Age pianist. What I DID hear between acts was hands down the best DJ I ever heard in my LIFE. I go to lots of shows too, of varying genres from hip hop to Lyric Op-​era. He mostly played Soul, and experimental jazz, but I was in awe. I had to keep apologizing because I was constantly bugging him about songs. In fact I was looking online to see if he had a set list, or an email or something when I stumbled across these reviews, and happened to be logged-​in, fancy that. I don’t even think he was a DJ professionally, but his musical taste were SUPERB! If anyone knows who I am talking about let me know.

I showed some work here a few months ago and the staff is the sweetest ever!
I enjoy the artists and musicians they have weekly and LOVE the food!

I had high hopes that this would be a great place for smaller bands to play, but it turned out to be a total nightmare. The room is nice and decorated very well with trees and lights and swaths of gauzy fabric.
We were told it would be cheap to get in, donation basis, and when we arrived it was $ 10!!! I understand there was food, but we didn’t come for dinner, we came for music. I doubt the bands saw any of that money.
They make bands turn down here. Don’t even bother bringing an amp.
If you want Christian ranting and interludes by a freaky new-​age pianist comforting you with «the sounds of angels» come here. They also got really mad when someone byob and told them to drink outside or in their car or chug in the bathroom and then come in and watch the music.
There were several hippie girls twirling with hula hoops in the middle of the floor. Completely bizarre.
If you want to be ripped off, chastised, interrupted by hula hoops and converted to Christianity, this is the place for you.

Definitely a great place to see a huge variety of local music in a unique atmosphere.
More decadent than other venues of the ilk both visually and food-​wise, the crowd here was somewhat diverse and seems to vary week to week. Donate and there’s a whole buffet waiting for you (vegetarian friendly), and a sizable selection of teas. It’s a pretty friendly, comfortable place to come and hang out on Sunday nights.
And I gotta give them credit for being non-​profit and completely volunteer-​based. Oh, and I don’t think there’s BYOB: it’s an all-​ages venue.

This IS a great place for artists to showcase their work and the food is amazing. It’s definitely an experimental place for younger crowds to come hang. All the music I’ve seen is fabulous. Just watch out for flying glowball and hula hoop dancers interrupting the music acts that you may be trying to enjoy! I wish someone would tell them to move aside. When the act is a solo piano player, it kills the vibe and if you look at faces in the audience, people are cringing.

First off, this place hosted my art for a month, so they’re awesome! But besides the art, they have great music and food. The vibe is laid-​back and artsy very trippy. Everything the other reviewers have said is true. This is a one of a kind spot — or at least in the alt. cultural space realm.