Green Mill Jazz Club
The longtime jazz club, located in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, has been open since the early 20th century.
Green Mill Jazz Club.
Green Mill Sunken Gardens 1914. Chicago Examiner. Public domain.
Original signage. Photographer: Robert Loerzel.
Photographer: Deb Frels
The Green Mill Cocktail Lounge is a longtime jazz club located in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Open since the early 20th century, the lounge is a piece of Chicago's history and a significant part of the city’s cultural and architectural landscape.
History
The venue originated in the 1890’s as Pop Morse’s Roadhouse, a rowdy bar on what was then the northern edge of the city. After a series of new owners, it was expanded and rebranded around 1914 as the Green Mill Gardens, taking inspiration from Paris’s Moulin Rouge (French for "Red Mill")—substituting "green" to avoid being associated with Chicago’s “red light” district fifteen miles to the south near today’s South Loop neighborhood. During its early years, Green Mill Gardens included extensive outdoor seating, lavish dining, and a real green mill atop its roof.
The Green Mill is widely documented to have continued serving alcohol during Prohibition with gangster Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn having a financial interest in the club during the 1920s. A trapdoor behind the bar, built to access underground storage tunnels, reportedly doubled as an escape hatch used by patrons during police raids.
Present Day
After parts of the larger venue were sold off, today the Green Mill is part of a larger mixed-use complex on Broadway. Though modest in scale, the bar’s interior retains many period details, including an Art Deco-style back bar, ornate plaster details, and vintage murals that evoke its 1920s character. The iconic green neon “Green Mill Cocktail Lounge” sign was added around the mid-20th century and remains one of the most recognizable neon signs in the city.
The original entrance to Green Mill Gardens now serves as the doorway to a restaurant just north of the Green Mill. Above that establishment’s doorway, you can still spot a windmill carved into the stone—a reminder of the site’s past. While often blocked by modern signage, the venue’s original name remains etched in place at the top of the doorway.
The Green Mill continues to be one of the city’s most popular venues hosting numerous renowned performers, regular jazz sets, and the long-running Uptown Poetry Jam, which began in the 1980s.
Did you know?
As another nod to Paris, the Green Mill was briefly renamed the Montmartre Café before being ordered to close in 1926 for violating Prohibition. It reopened within a year.
Did you know?
In 1927, the courtyard of the Green Mill Gardens was demolished, and the space was used for the construction of the Uptown Theatre. The green mill atop the building was also removed around this time.
Did you know?
Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and Al Jolson all played at the Green Mill.
Did you know?
The Green Mill is one of the oldest continuously operating bars in Chicago. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Uptown Square Historic District, designated in 2000.
Did you know?
A fundraiser supporting those affected by the Eastland Disaster was held at the Green Mill, raising thousands of dollars.
