First Look: Part Time Lover – Interior
Photo Credit: Riley Dring
Part Time Lover is now open in North Park. Elevator pitch might be: a hi-fi listening bar and record store with cocktails from some of the best drinks minds in town. But, like all things Consortium Holdings, it’s less a bar or a record shop than it is an alternate world. And it keeps an iconic spot rooted in local culture.
When Bar Pink closed in this space in 2020, a decent chunk of North Park’s soul went with it. Co-owned by Dang Nguyen and John Reis (lead singer of Rocket from the Crypt), Pink was a shadowy, cavernous dive that music lovers flocked to for atomic-strength pours, red vinyl booths, and $2 Tecates. Locals worry when a place like this is lost. We worry the memories of that room will fall into the hands of people who don’t know the history, or who can’t be bothered with silly things like “roots” or neighborly wants and desires.
But sometimes things work out. In this case, they work out.
For Part Time Lover, CH founder Arsalun Tafazoli brought along Nguyen as manager and Folk Arts Rare Records as vinyl curator. It’s a hell of a team.
“Bar Pink was an institution, and a big advocate for local music,” says Tafazoli. “We wanted to do something that paid homage to the legacy it established. But we can’t do live music. That’s not a world we know. Plus, you already have great places like Soda Bar and The Casbah and we don’t want to compete with them. We wanted to contribute something different but meaningful.”
Thus, the hi-fi listening bar concept.
“I went into a Neil Young wormhole about digital music—how the iPod killed music,” he says. “It’s a bummer that most music gets consumed digitally. It’s about efficiency and storage. Hearing music on an originally produced record, analog and not digitally, on a high-fi sound system—it’s really powerful. It’s almost sound as a space. You can feel it, feel the musicians. I just started getting into records, but I have friends who are collectors. I love that sort of geeekdom… an irrational level of attention to something that seems trivial to people. Part Time Lover is about being able to hear music in the right kind of environment.”
In addition to a state-of-the-art sound system built by Chicago-based Uncanned Music, PTL sports an east-meets-west design inspired by the Prairie School aesthetic, which influenced Frank Lloyd Wright and was rooted in kissaten (small cafés in Tokyo where DJs would spin vinyl). It’ll be coffee-and-cocktails up front (focusing on Japanese highballs), record store in the back—a mullet of local culture. Most drinks will be cold and carbonated, like the In Kaiju, a neon green concoction made with Japanese vermouth, aquavit, lemon, and sparkling water, served in a frozen highball glass.
Record collectors are welcome to come spin their favorites. Much like he did at Starlite, Mays will tap touring musicians to take the wheel on certain nights. “This is about realizing the potential in the simple act of sharing amazing music, rooted in our philosophy of patient listening, discovery, open-mindedness, and free-spirited creativity,” says Brendan Boyle, owner of Folk Arts, which is also one of the oldest record stores in America.
Still, everyone involved maintains that the emphasis is affordability and accessibility. So not to worry, North Park purists and dive bar enthusiasts. You’re in capable hands.
“When we did Craft & Commerce, no one gave a shit about Little Italy,” says Tafazoli. “With development it gets to a point where landlords charge a premium. It raises a barrier of entry. And that’s where you get to the point where only the Landry’s of the world can afford it. You get the corporatization of restaurants in a community.”
And after setting firm roots in Little Italy (Craft & Commerce, Underbelly, Ironside, Born & Raised, Morning Glory), it looks like North Park is the next frontier for Consortium. Already with Underbelly on the south side and Polite Provisions on the north end, Part Time Lover will be joined by their new vision for the Lafayette Hotel sometime next year.
Correction: In an earlier version of this story, we incorrectly reported that Tim Mays of the Casbah was involved in the project.
First Look: Part Time Lover – outside
First Look: Part Time Lover – Entrance
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – inside
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Booths
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Chairs
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Wall
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Turntable
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Bar long
Riley Dring
First Look: Part time Lover – Bar
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Reels
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Corner Booth
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Folk Arts entrance
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Record Shop
Riley Dring
First Look: Part Time Lover – Bar Lamp
Riley Dring
Part Time Lover – Chandelier
Riley Dring
