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This Lakeview bar goes from day to night mode in a jiffy, with slick deals to boot.

Monday Jun 11, 2007.     By Erin Brereton

Lifestyle Feed

Big City Tap, 1010 W. Belmont Avenue, is the Day-to-Night Barbie of bars. For those who don't recall, Day-to-Night Barbie was known for her dual personality: Wearing a conservative suit by day, she deftly reversed said suit into a pink, sparkly club outfit with the switch of a few tiny snaps…and then stiffly walked all five of her moveable joints to happy hour.

Playing as hard as she works, this Day-to-Night babe doesn't always make it home with her tiny plastic shoes. After a recent trip to Big City Tap, I suspect the same can be said of some of this bar's nighttime patrons. Though the afternoon crowd here mostly consists of lonely older locals, the night crowd—especially on weekends—comes to drink.

Whatever your goal, rest assured you can achieve it at Big City, and cheaply. Open until 4 a.m. on weeknights and 5 a.m. on weekends, the bar offers a bundle of thrifty drink deals, including $1 beer of the day on Thursdays and $1 Pucker shots on weekends.

Afternoons find the Tap quiet, excluding the low din from the TVs behind the bar, and a few old men sit around nursing drinks. The space even looks cheery when the daylight floods through the windows. At night, it's born anew: The lights go out, loud tunes (which, in the wee hours of the night, inspires drunken dancing) pump through the speakers and the scattered tables host crowds of boozers. Although bottled beer seems like the drink of choice, shots give 'em a good run for their money.

I've been to Big City Tap, in both suited-up daytime and sparkly nighttime mode. The first time, several years ago, I went late in the evening (or early morning, depending on your viewpoint), after stopping at enough bars to give me the general odor of a tobacco chew packet. I danced, drank beer and watched my bar-mates size each other up.

I recently returned for a second go-round on a Wednesday afternoon to find this late-night staple doubling as a calm, neighborhood watering hole. I ordered up a $3 light draft beer (which isn't listed as a weekly special according to the bar, but I was served nonetheless). Wednesday is also $3 well drink night, so fans of mixed drinks, take note.

I sipped my beer, chatted with my friend, watched a bit of TV and realized the bar looked twice as large for some reason in daytime than it did at night. It was an entirely different experience to say the least. Only one bartender trolled the bar area, the TVs were quietly set to the news and an old-timer two stools over was reading. Where were the recent college grads? The crowded dance floor? The girl drunk dialing her ex-boyfriend outside the bar?

I'd never considered Big City Tap an after-work stop, but boy was I wrong. Sure, most bars get more crowded at night, and clientele can differ depending on the time of day. But I've never encountered a bar that differed this drastically from day to night.

And, if you do happen to go late at night and wish you had a little more of that daytime solitude, don't stress: The 1,000 Liquors store shares a doorway with Big City Tap, so you can take a bottle home and create your own tap.

Curious? Check out Big City Tap at 1010 W. Belmont Avenue or call (773) 935-9229 for more information.