{"id":1958567,"date":"2025-08-13T19:56:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1958567"},"modified":"2025-08-13T19:56:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:56:55","slug":"from-slurpees-to-shostakovich-an-abandoned-7-eleven-becomes-a-home-for-classical-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/from-slurpees-to-shostakovich-an-abandoned-7-eleven-becomes-a-home-for-classical-music\/","title":{"rendered":"From Slurpees to Shostakovich, an abandoned 7-Eleven becomes a home for classical music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Not everyone looks at the long-vacant husk of a former convenience store and gets visions of string quartets and piano recitals. But that\u2019s exactly how it happened for Seth Boustead, the head of Access Contemporary Music.<\/p>\n

In February 2023, in a cab traveling on North Clark Street, Boustead saw the familiar sight of the empty store at 4116, once a 7-Eleven, before that a White Hen Pantry. This time, the window had a \u201cfor rent\u201d sign. After the cab ride, Boustead zipped back on his bicycle and peered in the dark windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be an amazing chamber music venue,\u201d he remembers thinking, dreaming of what is now scheduled to open in mid-September as the CheckOut. Previews in the new space have already begun, the first Thursday. <\/p>\n

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The CheckOut, a new chamber music venue by nonprofit Access Contemporary Music, is housed inside the former 7-Eleven store at 4116 N. Clark St. in Lake View.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

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The CheckOut, a new chamber music venue by nonprofit Access Contemporary Music, is housed inside the former 7-Eleven store at 4116 N. Clark St. in Lake View.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty unrecognizable,\u201d Boustead said. \u201cThe door dings when you walk in, like a 7-Eleven \u2014 we left that. Behind the bar, there\u2019s still, where the grease trap used to be, a door that goes down into the floor where they used to dump grease. I found a training poster for their employees, and we\u2019re planning to frame it and put it in the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

ACM, now 21 years old, has always done many different things simultaneously. It gives music lessons, has a composer collective and presents concerts, such as the annual Sound of Silent Film Festival, where it commissions and live-performs scores for modern silent films. And once a year, it throws a classical music street festival called Thirsty Ears.<\/p>\n

The CheckOut will check in as ACM\u2019s biggest element. It aims to put on two or three chamber concerts a week, mostly self-produced. There are incipient plans for a jazz night on Thursday and for cabaret shows to fill the void left when Davenport\u2019s abruptly canceled all its cabarets<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time we did Thirsty Ears,\u201d Boustead said, \u201cI was like, this is a big deal. It felt like the organization was at a different level. And the CheckOut feels like we\u2019re at a different level times three.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Access Contemporary Music executive director Seth Boustead speaks to attendees before a performance on Aug. 7, 2025 at The CheckOut, 4116 N. Clark St. in Lake View. The new chamber music venue by Boustead\u2019s nonprofit is housed inside a former 7-Eleven store.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Unsurprisingly, a project of this magnitude had obstacles, money chief among them. Boustead said the rent for the CheckOut is close to the three music schools\u2019 combined. And it quickly became clear that in addition to the renovations necessary to convert the space to a music venue, they would have to make up for upkeep that 7-Eleven had inconveniently deferred. Boustead said the estimate was $300,000 to $400,000.<\/p>\n

Then there were the administrative hurdles. The property was zoned for single-family houses, and the area had a liquor license moratorium.<\/p>\n

Both the odd zoning and the moratorium had the effect of funneling ACM through 46th Ward Ald. Angela Clay\u2019s office, so that she and the community could weigh in before the project began. Boustead made a presentation to the Graceland West Area Community Association about lessons, rehearsals and concerts for 60 to 100 audience members filling the empty shell.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks were excited about having this kind of small cultural institution in the neighborhood, but there\u2019s a lot of red tape the city puts up,\u201d said Jesse Orr, director of infrastructure and development in Clay\u2019s office. \u201cThe more neighborhood businesses that flourish in the city, the better we are as a city.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Members of the Palomar Trio perform Aug. 7, 2025 at The Checkout, 4116 N. Clark St. in Lake View. The new chamber music venue by nonprofit Access Contemporary Music is housed inside a former 7-Eleven store.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Boustead started checking boxes. With some hand-holding from Clay\u2019s office, they hacked through the permits, inspections, zoning and other city tasks. And he worked on money. ACM landed a Community Development Grant through the city\u2019s Department of Planning and Development for $250,000. They started a capital campaign, offering naming rights for the stage and chairs. So far the campaign has raised $470,000.<\/p>\n

The construction, the money and the red tape-macheteing has progressed to the point where the wide-open space, with cabaret tables and an uncrowded 53 seats set up, can now host an audience. Last Thursday, Boustead assembled a preview crowd and noted the irony that 7-Elevens play classical music to prevent people from loitering. This time, the 7-Eleven left, and the classical music stayed around.<\/p>\n

The Palomar Trio, part of ACM\u2019s long-standing house ensemble, played piano-violin-cello music ranging chronologically from modern Dmitri Shostakovich to the of-the-minute 42-year-old Reena Esmail. With acoustical work still to be done, the room echoed more than would be ideal, and how to manage the sound of the air conditioning against the temperature of the room hasn\u2019t been settled. But the music filled the space nicely, the louds excitingly loud and soft effects detectable. You\u2019d never guess it had once been slinging slushies.<\/p>\n

For the public, the grand opening comes Sep. 13-28, with a festival to fete the new forum. Palomar will repeat the preview program Sep. 24. And if you\u2019re looking for a slushie, the CheckOut does plan to serve those \u2014 with booze.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wbez.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not everyone looks at the long-vacant husk of a former convenience store and gets visions of string quartets and piano recitals. But that\u2019s exactly how it happened for Seth Boustead, the head of Access Contemporary Music. In February 2023, in a cab traveling on North Clark Street, Boustead saw the familiar sight of the empty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1958568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1958567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/From-Slurpees-to-Shostakovich-an-abandoned-7-Eleven-becomes-a-home.com2Fbrightspot2Fd52F712F3c6.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1958567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1958568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1958567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1958567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1958567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}