WICKER PARK — Members of the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce celebrated the holidays at their annual party in The Robey's second-floor lounge this week.
The hotel, at 2018 W. North Ave. inside the Northwest Tower, was previously an office building that closed in 2013. In the 1990s and early aughts, the Chamber of Commerce had its offices inside the 12-story tower.
For Jay Forrest, a chamber member who works at Concord Music Hall, the Wednesday party was an opportunity to scope out the 69-room Robey hotel, which along with a neighboring "shared stay" hostel, The Hollander, opened last month.
"Artists who are on tour and perform [at Concord] often stay Downtown. We want them to stay closer and this is just up the street," Forrest said of the proximity between the music venue and the new hotels.
The membership-driven Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce has just under 400 business members and recently hired a new executive director, Pamela Maass.
Maass said that 98 folks came to the party and there was a waiting list of around 80.
Check out a few party highlights, below, or in the slideshow at the top of this story.
Longtime chamber members Joe and Carol Hall, co-owners of Quick Release Bike Shop. [Photos by DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
Left: Robert Gomez, from SubT Lounge and Club Lucky's Jim Higgins.
Left: Sarah Mitchell, Brynn Murphy and Elizabeth Nuekirch.
Pamela Maass will become the chamber's new executive director on Jan. 9.
Left: Jay Forrest and Jake Schneider from Concord Music Hall.
More revelers at the party.
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