We moved to Chicago in 2018 not knowing a single person.
We did the thing you are supposed to do. Joined the clubs. Went to the events. Showed up at the bars. We always had a good time. We never built community.
Turns out we were not the only ones. Making friends as an adult is genuinely hard, and the city does not make it easier. The options are networking that feels transactional, apps that go nowhere, or the same few bars. None of it is built for actual friendship.
So we built the thing we wanted.
Three Cities started with no space and a handful of people who kept showing up. Dinners in apartments. Long walks on Sundays. A group text that turned into a calendar. The first member was a friend, then a friend of a friend, then a stranger who heard about it.
It is now two clubhouses and a community of adults who actually know each other. River North came first. Wicker Park followed a year later. Both feel like the same club, because they are.
A community you are part of, not a venue you rent.
Where it is going.
More places like this, in more cities. But only if every one still feels local, still feels real, still knows your name. The day Three Cities feels like a status club or a polished brand instead of a community, we have failed.
We are in no rush to add more. The point was never how many we open. It is that each one stays a place where you walk in and someone says hello, by name.
If that sounds like something you want, come see it.
The Founders, Three Cities Social