While it’s no longer home to a photobooth on every corner, Chicago still has its fair share of working machines, and a recent trip (thank you, non-stop flights from New Haven to Midway, and thank you, Chicago Film Society!) I got a chance to visit four of them.
It had been awhile since my last visit (on the occasion of the 2104 International Photobooth Convention) and I’d forgotten just how spread out the city is. It was my first trip there with access to a car, so it wasn’t the most conducive time to seek out booths around town, but I managed to find four booths, three of them working, and was happy to revisit some great locations I remembered from my last booth odyssey.
My first stop was the fabled booth at Quimby’s Bookstore, an amazing shop full of unique and wonderful books, comics, zines, and more. Their booth also wins for best and most creative custom signage, which was enough to make up for the disappointment of the booth being out of order.
Just think, if it had been working perfectly, I’d never have seen this beauty of a sign:
From there, I took a bus and walked to the Rainbo Club, a memorable spot which not only has a great booth but is one of my favorite bars anywhere, period. Their annual photobooth calendar is a real treat, and with a donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, I picked up this year’s to add to my collection, which now spans three decades.
The booth at the Rainbo Club is still going strong, and was in constant use when I was there. Long live the Rainbo!
From there, I made the trek down to Skylark, one of the other more memorable spots from previous trips. I had a lovely dinner (don’t forget the tater tots) and enjoyed reading a ten year old issue of The New Yorker (it was new to me) at the bar. Their booth has seen an update since I last visited, and I was pleased to see it was functioning well.
Finally, I made a stop at the Holiday Club in Wrigleyville. Their booth is in the same location as last time I visited, but has also changed a bit. Most people there didn’t seem to notice the machine, but I was glad it was still going strong.
