The South Loop has been an "up and coming" neighborhood for a number of years, aided by its influx of residents in new luxury condominium and townhouses as well as college students attending the increasingly popular Columbia College and School of the Art Institute. When the area got its own Target and Whole Foods, that pretty much sealed the deal: the South Loop had credibility.
New businesses, bars and restaurants have arrived, too, catering to the young urban professionals and families moving in. But among these new businesses, one thing was missing: live music.
Or was it?
Lately, Reggie's Rock Club (2109 S. State) and Reggie's Music Joint (2105 S. State) have attracted attention from musicians and fans alike as a new hot spot for live shows -- even all-ages ones at the Rock Club, filling the void of the once-famed Fireside Bowl. But Reggie's isn't the only spot to hear South Loop sounds.
Cal's Bar (400 S. Wells), around since 1947, has been featuring live music every weekend for the past few years. According to Mike Feirstein (nephew of the bar's namesake, and the club's booker of weekly lineups of local and national acts ranging from rock to punk to experimental noise), Cal's is "sort of like the city's CBGB."
He could be right: the place is dirty and small, beer is cheap and the sound system consists of an amp set up at the end of the bar. On any given weekend night, it's cranked up as loud as it can go, and a diverse crowd (from businessmen to bike messengers to hipsters) is smashed together, slipping in puddles of PBR, fists pumping in the air.
When it comes to Cal's newest competition from nearby Reggie's, the relocated Bottom Lounge and even South Union Arts, Feirstein isn't concerned.
"It seems like Chicago has more bands than ever," he said. "And those places can't duplicate what I have. We don't have a stage; the bands play on the floor. On a good night, you've got people standing a foot away from you and you get that feedback from the audience, so if you're having a good show and the music's happening, it just explodes in front of you."
Cyndi Elliott of local indie rock band Fast Product, which played at Cal's last Saturday night, is supportive of the venue and the newfound popularity of live music in the South Loop.
"It's different in a good way," Elliott said. "The audience is more diverse and something crazy always happens when you're right there on the same level as everyone else and you can't hide -- no stage, no backstage, no lights. So it's very communal and less homogeneous than your standard rock show at some club where there are no surprises."
"As far as venues down there, there's nothing like it," says Matt Harmon of local band Childsize Monster Pistol, which plays at Cal's this weekend. "You got the sparks from the L overhead, there are messengers outside drinking beer after their shift, and the place is connected to a liquor store. I mean, you're playing in Chicago's shadow -- awesome. If I were to have gotten a show at Cal's when I was younger [and living in rural Princeton], I can't help but think that pulling up to the venue, I would have been like, 'Man, we're in the city, man. We're going to be huge.'"

Jamie Murnane is a local free-lance writer.