IT STARTED WITH A
BAR IN A LOBBY
Larry’s opened in 2017, tucked quietly inside the front lobby of the Lawrence House—a grand old apartment hotel from the 1920s with terrazzo floors, arched windows, and stories built into the walls.
The idea was simple: build the kind of bar you hope to stumble across. One that feels like it’s been there forever. Low lights. Good drinks. A few familiar faces. A few strangers you’ll probably talk to.
Larry’s was started by Michael Salvatore, a fifth-generation Chicagoan and longtime neighborhood builder. After opening Heritage Bicycles—a cafe-meets-bike-shop hybrid that helped shape the city’s coffee scene—Michael found himself drawn to this forgotten corner of Uptown and imagined something quieter, slower, and stranger than the usual bar.
Not a speakeasy. Just a place that doesn’t yell.
THE VIBE
Cocktails lean classic.
People spill from the bar into the lobby.
Sometimes we play movies on the patio.
Sometimes we just hang out.
Larry’s is part of the Heritage Hospitality Group, but it’s not trying to be anything other than what it is: a little bar, in a big building, with a lot of heart.