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Red Line Tap a Dive No More? Stage, Interior Upgrades Attract Bigger Shows

 The neighborhood haunt ditched its pool table and enlarged its venue.
The neighborhood haunt ditched its pool table and enlarged its venue.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

ROGERS PARK — The Red Line Tap is still a dive, but it's not as dive-y as it once was after a months-long renovation, says its manager Brettly Kawaguchi.

The neighborhood haunt at 7006 N. Glenwood Ave. ditched its pool table to make room for an expansion of its stage, which was moved from the back of the bar to the front. The decades-old egg-shell white interior was also covered with a deep red paint and a couple of grimy booths were tossed to make more room for people to enjoy the music.

The cleaned-up result is a distinctly different experience than what the bar's long-standing reputation might suggest.

"At this point, it's a lot more pleasant," Kawaguchi said Wednesday afternoon inside the bar at 7006 N. Glenwood Ave. "People are expecting just a little bit better than the dive the Tap used to be — but I don't want to get rid of that. I definitely don't want to cleanse the dive away, but we had to do a little bit."

Next year, the bar celebrates its 20th year in existence, and "the abuse finally showed up," he said.

Now, with a bigger stage and a cleaner venue, it's attracting bigger shows in national and regional acts.

Rock band the Supersuckers performed last month and punk group MDC is slated for May 1.

"I'm thrilled," Kawaguchi said.

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