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Neo Owner Plans Blowout Weekend, Vows To Reopen in New Location

By Paul Biasco | July 22, 2015 5:48am
 Neo is set to close at the end of the month.
Neo is set to close at the end of the month.
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DNAinfo/Paul Biasco

LINCOLN PARK — The owner of Neo, the iconic Lincoln Park nightclub that is set to close at the end of the month, has big plans for the club's last two weeks in business.

The club is celebrating its 36th year at its back alley location and will officially close at the end of July due to a contract dispute over a new lease.

Cal Fortis, who owns Neo, said he plans to bring back some old celebrities who frequented the nightclub as well as surprise DJ appearances.

"Thursday, Friday, Saturday will probably be insane," Fortis said.

Fortis said he is already out looking for a new location in the city for a new Neo.

"Our track record is big," he said, citing clubs such as Crobar that he opened in the past. "We are going to look for the new and improved Neo, sort of the Neo Neo."

The reunion weekend kicks off this Thursday with "Neo in the '80s," featuring old-school Neo DJs Gil Burns, Jeff Pazen and Bud Sweet.

Friday will be "Neo in the '90s" with DJs RazerX, DJ Abe!, Ryan Bedlam and Carrie Monster, and Saturday will be the big reunion with the original Neo DJs Glenn Russell, Bill Saveley and Suzanne Shelton.

Paul Biasco discusses why Neo is shutting down in Lincoln Park:

"Neo sort of crossed the socioeconomic boundaries, sexuality boundaries, age boundaries," Fortis said. "You could be 50 and not feel weird at Neo."

Neo, which opened in 1979, was known to be a favorite of David Bowie while he was performing in a local theatrical production in the early '80s.

Fortis's Big Time Productions bought the club in 1982 and remodeled it in 1988 to resemble Lower Wacker Drive inside.

The club is rumored to have inspired Keanu Reeves' character in the Matrix film.

"I realized the whole Neo society was about a great group of misfits and a bunch of misfits together creates a fit," Fortis said. "We are going to try to keep that alive."

Fortis and the owner of the building at 2350 N. Clark St., John Crombie, were unable to come to terms on a new lease.

The nightclub owners had been on a month-to-month lease for the past two years and Crombie says he offered them a major drop in rent to sign a lengthy lease, but the owners could not come to an agreement.

Fortis claims the deal Crombie presented to him was "unsignable."

Crombie faulted the owners of the club for not putting any work into the building over the past decade.

At the end of the month the daycare center located in front of Neo, L&L Academy and Preschool, will expand into the soon-to-close club's space.

Fortis said he was planning to put money into the club this year to move it forward, but that will have to happen in a new location now.

"We decided we were going to take a swing, put money into it and reinvent it," Fortis said. "We are going to turn it into a positive. I'm disappointed and I'm angry and bitter."

The building owner told a different story, claiming Fortis has been late to pay rent and has been slacking on upkeep since he lives in Florida.

"We were really sad," Crombie said. "We always thought that it was a great location for a speakeasy or some kind of cool nightclub with a four o'clock license."

In the meantime, Neo plans to continue to host its New Wave Thursdays at Debonair Social Club in Wicker Park, 1575 N. Milwaukee Ave., starting Aug. 6.

Neo will also be taking over the basement at Debonair on Fridays.

"We sort of created modern day nightlife in Chicago with our places," Fortis said. "It's all kind of a shocker to us, too."

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