Video Tue Nov 17 2009

Nostalgia: Urbis Orbis and the "Third Place."

Remember Urbis Orbis? The seminal Wicker Park coffeeshop and "third place" closed a little over a decade ago, but you can revisit it and its colorful staff and clientele through this short documentary just posted on YouTube.

(Thanks, Anna!)

— Andrew Huff / Comments (4)

Dmitry Samarov / November 17, 2009 1:04 PM

I logged a lot of time at Urbis the last year it was open. I did a series of paintings there, spent a good amount of time talking to Joe, and got the shakes from over-caffeinating most every day...Thanks for this!

Tracy / November 17, 2009 2:09 PM

Oh, for one more cup of coffee with the light streaming through the windows. It is nice to see the independent coffee shop making a comeback - but Urbis will never have its equal.

frank / November 18, 2009 3:42 PM

I sure do miss this great place.

Robert / January 29, 2010 1:13 AM

I happened upon Bucktown/Wicker Park quite by accident back in, say, 1991 or thereabouts, and the first place I went into was urbis orbis to see if they had any Chicago Reader newspapers. They did. I had no idea that I would spend much of the next three years there in Urbis, sometimes for up to twelve hours at a time. Yes, I suppose you could call me a "slacker," but there was something special about that cafe, its staff, and its customers, most of whom i got to know well and considered my friends. The great thing about the area during those days was you just went out and met up with people. I did a lot of talking in Urbis; well, basically I drank so much coffee I couldn't stop talking. I was completely wired and all for one dollar a day with unlimited refills. I also wrote a lot of poetry on the back of flyers and perhaps it's no surprise, then, that I'm a starving writer today, always having my hopes dashed by those mean publishers with their industry catchprase "It needs a lot of work." I remember Tom, of course, and Joe was a regular back then, too; but I didn't see anyone else I knew. I'm Robert, the English guy, so hi to all those who I used to hang out with.

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