Inside: Scarlet

Forget what you know about Gentry on Halsted, and erase those memories of singing campy cabaret around the piano. Boystown newbie Scarlet, which occupies the former Gentry space, is a horse of a different color.

One-month-old Scarlet positions itself as a neighborhood bar by day, lounge by night. TVs play music videos and sports early and on weekday nights; later on weekends DJs set up shop in the front corner.

Victorian-inspired stained glass panels behind the bar add a colorful glow to the room, which is bathed in red- and orange-hued lighting that creates an awkward, discomforting vibe. Black-and-white photos of Chicago’s GLBT scene from the ’20s to ’50s grace the exposed brick walls; heavy brocade curtains separate the main room from a private back party room with its own tiny bar.

The bathrooms really baffled us. It was hard enough to distinguish ladies from gents based on the smallish black-and-white photos on the door (we saw one poor girl wander into the men’s and let out a shriek), but a sliding door with a bum lock on the women’s room? Really?

On a recent Saturday night, the main room was difficult to navigate as guys jockeyed for position at the small bar, groups swayed to music around high-top tables, and big-boned drag queens lumbered around the room.

Scarlet draws a motley crew, and not the S&M (stand and model) crowd you might find at other stops along the Halsted Street strip. It felt more like a house party—at your auntie’s loft.

Scarlet didn’t just take the piano out of Gentry—it changed its tune entirely.

[ Karen Budell is the Metromix nightlife producer. ]
kmbudell@tribune.com