Taken in from the street, Chipp Inn is everything a Chicago corner dive bar should be, a building that clearly has some age to it that resembles a home repurposed into a bar many years ago. Today, Chipp Inn cuts a clean look, pale siding mixing with bright red brick with a series of windows wrapping around the corner it sits on. In the windows a series of neon signs fill the space, including the bar’s signature Old Brew sign referencing a long-gone flagship beer under the Schlitz umbrella. All of the great dive bar beer hits are represented here, including Old Style, Blatz and Hamm’s, a frequent subject of memorabilia within Chipp Inn as well.
From the series of black and white photos found throughout the space, it is evident that Chipp Inn has changed little over the years, the signature bar up front enduring many decades of operation. Dual mirrors bookend a classic cash register in the center of the area behind the bar where a variety of aging dive bar beer relics can be found. Above the bar, vintage serving trays can be found depicting all manner of dive bar beer favorite. In the center of the bar, a dusty Old Style cabinet of some variety (this reviewer couldn’t figure out its purpose) presides over the proceedings.
The walls throughout Chipp Inn double as home to beer signs and pieces of Chipp Inn-specific memorabilia that ranges from old purchase receipts to classic photos to branded merchandise created over the years in partnership with some of the beer brands popular in the space over the years. The bar’s second room includes a series of framed photo montages depicting Chipp Inn through the years, including newspaper clippings in places referring to the Chicago dive bar. This back room doubles as the bar’s pool room, the small stature of the space supporting only a reduced size table.
