What Happened to Underground Wonder Bar After Bar Rescue? (Chicago, IL)

Underground Wonder Bar was a live-music venue in Chicago founded in 1989 by musician Lonie Walker, who ran it successfully for more than two decades at its original Gold Coast location. A 2011 building sale forced a move to a larger, more expensive space in Chicago's River North district, and the higher rent, combined with a niche vegan menu and live-music format that didn't resonate with the neighborhood's younger clientele, left the bar losing roughly $2,000 a month by the time Walker's son Jordan called in Bar Rescue for "Crayons & Anger Lines" (aired February 15, 2015). Jon Taffer's team found a bar mismatched to its market, with Walker resistant to changing her performance-heavy approach to running the business.

After clashes that included Taffer temporarily walking away from the project, Walker signed an agreement handing day-to-day management to Jordan and renaming the bar Clear Bar, with a redesigned, art-and-ice-themed interior, new cocktails from bartender Russell Davis, and a revamped menu from chef Crystal DeLongpre. Sales were reported up 30 percent six weeks after the visit, but within weeks Walker removed the Clear Bar signage and reverted the business to its original Underground Wonder Bar name, despite having agreed not to. The bar continued operating under that name for roughly two more years.

According to a statement posted on the bar's own website and reported by the fan site Bar Rescue Updates, Underground Wonder Bar closed for good on September 3, 2017, after nearly 28 years in business, citing the end of its run at the River North location. A separate update page, last revised in 2023, corroborates the September 2017 closure date; an unrelated retrospective article's reference to a 2015 closure appears to be in error given the bar's own announced timeline and the corroborating 2017 fan-site update. No reporting has surfaced describing any subsequent business operating at the former River North address under a different name.