Marqee Lounge

The corner tavern, Lincoln Park style.. The Scene
With darts, a decent jukebox, sports TV, and the usual upscale brands on tap, the Marquee is perfect if you live right down the street, a serviceable local pub rather than a destination. Picture windows face both Halsted Street and Armitage Avenue, so drinkers can keep an easy eye on the Lincoln Park street scene. Service can be indifferent and even inept at times, and the post-college cellphone-chatting crowd appears to be either lying low for the evening or making the Marquee the first stop on a night out. Back in the days when Lincoln Park still had an edge, this bar, then called Nick's, was one of the city's most hopping night spots.

The Space
A pool table and four booths fill the cozy back room, which is painted with a mural that puts patrons in the middle of a crimson Toulouse-Lautrec dancehall tableau. The front bar is lit with warm green and blue prairie style lamps.…