{"id":2338148,"date":"2026-03-20T05:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2338148"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:46:12","slug":"new-owner-of-the-hideout-plans-to-continue-venues-legacy-as-a-cultural-institution-and-community-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-owner-of-the-hideout-plans-to-continue-venues-legacy-as-a-cultural-institution-and-community-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"New owner of the Hideout plans to continue venue\u2019s legacy as a cultural institution and community hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For the first time in 30 years, the Hideout has a new owner.<\/p>\n

Teri O\u2019Brien \u2014 a performing artist, independent festival producer and one-time employee of the West Town concert venue \u2014 is taking the reins from the husband-and-wife team of Tim and Katie Tuten and brothers Mike and Jim Hinchsliff, the venue announced<\/u><\/a> Thursday, according to a post on its website.<\/p>\n

The reasons behind the transition and the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but O\u2019Brien (who splits her time between Nashville and Chicago) said that conversations with the former owners started in February 2025. \u201cI always dreamed of owning a music venue and I told [the Tutens] that in passing,\u201d she told the Chicago Sun-Times. \u201cThey approached me last year \u2026 and this just felt like the right moment in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tutens and Hinchsliffs first purchased the converted century-old house along the North Branch of the Chicago River in 1996. Over the years, they\u2019ve turned it into a cultural institution and community hub that was recognized as a \u201cbest\u201d music venue by publications including Rolling Stone and USA Today and was a pit stop for figures like Anthony Bourdain.<\/p>\n

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Teri O\u2019Brien \u2014 a performing artist, independent festival producer and one-time employee of the West Town concert venue \u2014 is the new owner of The Hideout.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

The Hideout has hosted homegrown and national music acts including Andrew Bird, Wilco, Mavis Staples and the storied Hideout Block Party; comedy nights with Hannibal Buress and Ramy Youssef; political offerings including events with Politico and the ongoing panel event \u201cShow Up Chicago\u201d; and community events like the regularly scheduled Soup & Bread nights that aim to fight hunger in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hideout will stay the Hideout,\u201d Tim Tuten said in a statement. \u201cIt will remain independent, creative and rooted in the community that built it. Teri knows our room, the people and our history, and she has the heart to carry it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hideout works because of the people who gather in it. That doesn\u2019t change with this transition, in fact it will grow,\u201d Katie Tuten added in another statement. The Tutens were not available for additional comment.<\/p>\n

Bird noted how important the venue has been to the local music community.<\/p>\n

\u201dThe Hideout is one of only a few venues that exists because of and is a manifestation of the personalities of its owners, Tim and Katie Tuten,\u201d the singer-songwriter, who hails from Lake Bluff, said in a statement. \u201cThe fact that it\u2019s being passed to an employee is definitely encouraging that it will continue in its original spirit and not be acquiring flat screens behind the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve seen all sides of the music industry,\u201d O\u2019Brien said of the knowledge she brings as The Hideout\u2019s new owner. She\u2019s also a recording and touring artist performing under the stage name Bront\u00eb Fall. \u201cI\u2019ve spent the last decade touring and being a performing artist, booking my own shows. I feel like I know the ins and outs of what it takes to run the venue because I worked there. I know what it\u2019s like to be a performer, so this was the perfect storm for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before assuming ownership of the Hideout, O\u2019Brien worked at the venue from 2015-2018 in an artist hospitality position. Prior to that, she was part of the backstage operations team at Ravinia. O\u2019Brien also acts as a producer of the annual Chicago indie music event Big Heart Fest, held at Chief O\u2019Neill\u2019s in Avondale every June; it was created as a tribute to her late father, John W. O\u2019Brien<\/u><\/a> who ran the financial brokerage firm R.J. O\u2019Brien & Associates and \u201cloved music and community,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Katie<\/p>\n<\/picture>\n
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\u201cThe Hideout works because of the people who gather in it. That doesn\u2019t change with this transition, in fact it will grow,\u201d said former Hideout owner Katie Tuten of the change of ownership at the venue she\u2019s co-owned since 1996.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n

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Anthony Vazquez\/Sun-Times file<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

The ownership switch at the Hideout comes at a critical juncture for Chicago\u2019s independent music venues. As the Sun-Times previously reported<\/u><\/a>, citing data from the Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL), only 1 in 4 are currently profitable. The Hideout, notably, is also a founding member of CIVL, which grew out of the previous owners\u2019 fight against Live Nation\u2019s failed Lincoln Yards project.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, the Hideout is stable,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cAfter touring for nearly a decade all over the country, I see it. I see that venues are hurting and asking for money to stay open. I know the industry is in flux.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new owner said she\u2019s looking into building partnerships and alliances with the city and nonprofit organizations as well as working with the Hideout\u2019s current 26-member staff and the community to gather ideas for sustainability of the venue. Some of them include adding nonalcoholic drinks and mocktails to the bar to cater to patrons\u2019 changing preferences and possibly adding podcasting to the mix of entertainment booked at the club.<\/p>\n

But much will stay the same as O\u2019Brien looks to maintain the programming and offerings that make the Hideout unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so rare to see a music club that\u2019s not just a music club. I want to continue with that legacy and build on the community and the vibe it\u2019s always had,\u201d she said. \u201cI think there\u2019s so many fun things we can do to continue bringing it into the 21st century.\u201d<\/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":"

For the first time in 30 years, the Hideout has a new owner. Teri O\u2019Brien \u2014 a performing artist, independent festival producer and one-time employee of the West Town concert venue \u2014 is taking the reins from the husband-and-wife team of Tim and Katie Tuten and brothers Mike and Jim Hinchsliff, the venue announced Thursday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2338149,"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-2338148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/New-owner-of-the-Hideout-plans-to-continue-venues-legacy.com2Fbrightspot2Ffd2F892Fd7b.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338148","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=2338148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2338150,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338148\/revisions\/2338150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2338149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2338148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2338148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2338148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}