ABSTRACT
But in 1989 the old brick building became home to a new occupant, the Urbus Orbis café. Urbus Orbis provided a key amenity for what was at that point a nascent artists’ scene in the surrounding neighborhood, serving as a hangout, display venue, and platform for collaboration. The opening of Urbus Orbis marked a new turn in the neighborhood’s identity, and in its modest lifetime the café was hailed as a premier site in Chicago’s new bohemia, where artists, musicians, and young professionals could sip coffee and admire the locally produced artwork decorating Urbus Orbis’ brick walls.
