After 11 years in business, the South Side music venue The Promontory (5311 S. Lake Park Ave. West) is set to close.

The news was announced Monday on Instagram and confirmed to the Tribune Tuesday by longtime venue manager Mario Smith, who said the location’s last event will be New Year’s Eve.

The venue is part the “hospitality collective” called 16” on Center, which also includes The Empty Bottle, Salt Shed and Evanston’s Space, among others.

Supporters of then-Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle wait for her concession speech at her election night party at The Promontory on April 2, 2019. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

“The Promontory is dedicated to celebrating the eras when spacious ballrooms and jumping jazz clubs made Chicago’s South Side the capital of American music,” per the venue’s website.

“It was an epic run in the best neighborhood in the city,” said Smith, who sounded heartbroken but also philosophical about the news.

“I think the times have changed a bit and this was something that had to happen. It’s unfortunate. But we will be forever grateful for the opportunity to be in this neighborhood and present all the folks that we have on our stage,” including performances over the years by De La Soul, Meshell Ndegeocello, Ice Cube and Nikki Giovanni.

“We will celebrate to the end,” Smith said. “It’s the end of an era, to be sure. We are not happy about it, but we are happy with what we have done. As Berry Gordy once said: ‘It will never end the way you want it to but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.’ All good things come to an end.”

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/14/music-venue-the-promontory-closing/