Zebra Lounge

Zebra Lounge is a historic piano bar in the Gold Coast, Chicago, with live piano every night for birthday drinks and small group nights out. It has been pouring drinks since 1929 and holds the third oldest liquor license in the city, so a group gets a classic Chicago night rather than a generic bar.

The bar is a single, intimate room inside the Canterbury Court apartment building on State Parkway, just off the Division Street strip. Seating is in leather booths and along a mirror-lined bar.

A pianist plays seven nights a week, taking requests that run from Frank Sinatra to Jay Z, and the bartenders often sing along. The room has maroon walls, framed pictures, zebra-striped lamps and red lighting. Martinis are the house signature, served with bowls of snack mix at the bar. It is quieter early in the evening and fills up later in the night with a mixed crowd.

Zebra Lounge opens at 7pm on weekdays and 7:30pm on weekends and stays open until 2am, or 3am on Saturday, which suits a late birthday or after-dinner celebration. The Clark/Division Red Line stop is close by.