LAKEVIEW — People looking for a retro-arcade fix with their bourbon will have two spots in Lakeview starting Thursday.
Just blocks from Lincoln Park, Headquarters Beercade's expansion into the 7,000 square feet that used to be Uncle Fatty's will open Thursday night at 2833 N. Sheffield Ave. at 7 p.m., offering 20 pinball machines to its repertoire of vintage arcade games like Frogger and Donkey Kong.
Former Boystown hangout Buck's Saloon, 3439 N. Halsted St., will reopen Friday night under new owners as Replay, a bourbon- and craft beer-focused bar with vintage arcade games.
Replay owners Mark Liberson and Sean Kotwa — also the entrepreneurs behind Halsted's, Hydrate and Elixir — know a partner behind Headquarters, but the bar owners didn't collaborate, Liberson said.
Liberson has always wanted to buy Buck's and simply thought the retro-arcade concept would work in Boystown.
In addition to games like Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Asteroids, tables will be added in the back where Buck's beer garden was, and visitors will be able to order food from Halsted's next door.
Further south, the tiki huts of Uncle Fatty's are gone, and the bar is lined with parts taken from whiskey barrels and old freight trains.
Headquarters will be offering drink specials, and DJ's Greg Corner and Jonny Radtke will be spinning Thursday night.
Replay, 3439 N. Halsted St., will be open from noon to 2 a.m. on Fridays, noon to 3 a.m. on Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Sundays and 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Monday through Thursday.
Headquarters Beercade, 2833 N. Sheffield Ave., is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Mondays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Sunday.
