Amid the wood tables in the Union League Club’s Rendezvous Room, where the smell of cigar smoke hangs heavy on the wine-colored walls, you might expect to find a graying CEO reading The Wall Street Journal over a single-malt Scotch.
You might not expect to find Meredith Marino, a bubbly 26-year-old, sipping a Diet Coke.
But Marino, a member of Chicago’s Union League Club since she was 24, is a regular in the elegant rooms of the private social club, one of several former gentlemen’s clubs in the Loop that have long been considered bastions of Chicago’s upper crust. Here, dress codes and monthly dues still rule, as does the requirement that in order to become a member, you must be recommended and approved by other members.
Joining such a club seems an unlikely social experiment for a twentysomething in a city brimming with bars and inexpensive softball leagues. But it’s not uncommon for young adults to sign on, a testament to clubs’ efforts to attract younger crowds and to the sophisticated palates of the young members.
Marino, a Milwaukee native who grew up in a family that belonged to private city clubs, joined the Union League Club to branch out from her social circle, and she said she’s been thrilled with the warm, kind-hearted friends she’s made.
“Every time I come here, I meet someone new,” said Marino, a wholesale mortgage banker who lives in Old Town and pays $91 a month for her club privileges (plus a $250 initiation fee).
Marino likens the club to a sorority for grown-ups, “minus rush,” with myriad club activities including wine tastings, author readings and parties like the black-tie Winter Ball in February helping to fill her social calendar.
But the sorority analogy, while endearing to some, is a major turnoff to others.
“I don’t like anything that’s so insular,” Nicholas Cimino, a 27-year-old actor living in Lincoln Square, told RedEye when asked his opinion of private city clubs.
“It seems kind of antiquated and behind the times,” said Cimino, who himself has never been in such a club.
Indeed, the relevance of clubs in modern times is a major concern, as the once-powerful prestige factor of being accepted into an exclusive society has diminished, said Mark Eble, regional vice president of PKF Consulting, an Indianapolis-based hospitality consulting firm. Eble said he’s seen city clubs across the country die out as membership dwindled and real estate taxes on their valuable properties soared.
“The notion of having a prestigious committee vote you in is not as magical as it once was,” Eble said.
The Chicago Athletic Association is feeling the membership pinch. It has about 800 members today, down 50 percent from 10 years ago, and is selling the historic building where it’s been housed for over a century in part because it doesn’t have the funds to maintain it, said Michael Raimondi, a member of the club’s board of directors. The club plans to continue operating from the building once renovations are complete.
Membership declines can be blamed in part on competition from health clubs and new tax laws in the 1980s that prompted many companies to stop funding their employees’ club privileges, membership director Marie Hertel said.
But membership among young adults is actually on the upswing, Hertel said.
Many clubs have worked to shed their stodgy reputations and boost their younger ranks.
The Union League Club makes it a priority to bring in younger members with drastically reduced rates and an active “younger members subcommittee” dedicated to organizing events that are affordable and appealing to the under-35 crowd. There’s a twice-monthly happy hour with $1 draft beers, trips to baseball games and volunteer opportunities.
Today, 10 percent to 15 percent of the Union League Club’s 2,500 resident members are between 21 and 35, said General Manager Jonathan McCabe, and overall membership looks good–up from a low of 1,800 in 1993 and just shy of its peak of 2,600 in 1986.
“If the club can attract wonderful, vivacious people, then it has a future,” McCabe said.
Young members have varying reasons for joining these private societies.
John Starr, 33, who works for IBM and lives in Lakeview, wanted a place to play basketball, and found the Union League Club’s fees to be competitive. The monthly fee for Starr’s age group is $182, plus $47 for use of the athletic facilities, with a $500 initiation fee.
Todd Domjan, 31, a lawyer who lives in Lincoln Park, said he joined the University Club for networking and to take clients and co-workers to classy lunches in the club’s restaurants.
Domjan admits he’s been ribbed for his club membership.
“A couple of my friends have made fun of going off to meet Muffy and Buffy at the Club,” Domjan said, adding that club members are neither the snoots nor the fuddy-duddies they’re often perceived to be.
Even if it is a luxury, he thinks the club experience is worth the $150 he pays a month and the $500 initiation fee he paid when he joined a year ago.
“You’re in the middle of this crazy city, and to have a quiet place, it’s almost like a refuge,” he said.
IT’S WHO YOU KNOW,NOT WHAT YOU EARN
Becoming a member of a private city club takes patience. You need to know the right people. And you need to clear the vetting process.
A few decades ago, being a woman or an ethnic, racial or religious minority was automatic grounds for disqualification at many clubs. Hard battles were fought in efforts to lift those barriers–at the Union League Club, for example, women weren’t allowed to be members until 1987–and today most clubs boast diverse membership.
Generally, the first step to membership is to have two or three current members recommend you; one of those members is your sponsor. Some clubs require you to submit additional outside references as well.
Then come interviews with the admissions committee, which serve to educate prospective members about the club and give the interviewers a sense of the person applying. At the Union League Club, for example, interviewers want to know why people are interested in joining the club and make sure they share the club’s value of community service, said General Manager Jonathan McCabe.
Perceptions that only the very wealthy or very important belong to clubs can be misleading, McCabe said. The Union League Club is “interested in what people do for a living because we think it adds to the fabric of the community,” but it’s not a basis for acceptance, he said. The club never asks how much a candidate makes, McCabe said. It assumes that if they’re applying, they can pay the dues.
“It becomes very much a self-vetting process,” McCabe said. “If the club were something that fit their desire and purposes, then just like everyone else, they would be welcome.”
During the admissions process, most clubs post prospective members’ names, occupations and addresses in a communal area and in the club newsletter for one to two weeks for all members to see–and file an objection, if need be. If there is an objection, most clubs try to handle it discreetly.
“Every once in a while someone’s name comes up and a member will say, ‘I don’t know if you want that person as a member,’ ” perhaps because of some past unsavory business practice, McCabe said. In those cases, the prospective member will be notified of the concerns and will typically withdraw his or her application to avoid a to-do.
“In my 14 years with the Club, no one’s been blackballed, but some people have withdrawn their applications,” McCabe said.
There are exceptions to the standard rules of acceptance.
It’s not impossible to join up if you don’t know any current members who could sponsor you. At some clubs, you can ask to be set up with admissions committee members, who will spend time with you until they get to know you well enough to sponsor you themselves.
“Our society has become much more transient,” said Marie Hertel, membership director of the Chicago Athletic Association, which along with the Union League Club sometimes accommodates people in this way. “We have to try to find ways to assist people.”
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aelejalderuiz@tribune.com
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The cost of the good life
Most clubs offer age-adjusted membership rates to accommodate people just starting out in their careers. Dues rise considerably when members hit 35 or 40. Here’s the fee schedule from the Union League Club. Access to its athletic facilities is not included and costs an additional $47 per month. General Manager Jonathan McCabe said he believes the club’s fees are on the low end in comparison to other clubs. *
— Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
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Age / Initiation fee / Monthly dues
1-24 $250 $68
25-28 $250 $91
29-32 $500 $137
33-34 $500 $182
35 & up $1,250 $227
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Chicago social clubs
Multiple dining rooms. Expansive athletic facilities. Guest rooms. Recreational groups. Elegant decor in opulent surroundings.
Most private city clubs boast similar amenities, but each has a unique history that influences how it operates today.
Here’s a glance at some of the major city clubs in Chicago. All information comes from the clubs’ Web sites unless otherwise noted.
Union League Club
65 W. Jackson Blvd., Founded in 1879
Tidbit: Founded nationally to support the Union in the Civil War, and locally in part to support Ulysses S. Grant as the Republican candidate for president, the club emphasizes civic involvement. It operates four Boys and Girls Club locations and two foundations that give scholarships to engineers and develop programs in civics and the arts. ulcc.org
University Club
76 E. Monroe St., Founded in 1889
Tidbit: Established by university graduates to foster an appreciation of literature and the arts, the club requires all members to have four-year college or university degrees. It also holds a regular Fight Night, in which guests in black-tie attire watch amateur boxing in a ring set up in the club’s Cathedral Hall, a medieval-looking dining room. ucco.com
Chicago Athletic Association
12 S. Michigan Ave., Founded in 1890
Tidbit: Best known for its 24-hour athletic facilities and sports clubs, its logo is often confused with the Cubs logo because when club member William Wrigley bought the Cubs in 1915, he adopted the social club’s logo.
chicagoathletic.com
The Standard Club
320 S. Plymouth Court, Founded in 1869
Tidbit: Founded by prominent German Jews who were barred from entry to other city clubs, it has been open to all religions since its founding, but today remains mostly Jewish, according to “Glory, Darkness, Light,” a book about city clubs by James D. Nowlan. stclub.org
The Chicago Club
81 E. Van Buren St., Founded in 1869
Tidbit: The club de rigueur for major company CEOs, it is the city’s most exclusive club, according to Nowlan in “Glory, Darkness, Light.”
www.thechicagoclub.com
