What started as jazz jam sessions in Gustavo Barba Flores’ back yard in the summer of 2024 has now grown into the newest music venue and social club on the East Side of Aurora.
Located in the basement under La Villita bar and liquor store at 1415 E. New York St., East Wind looks to highlight local, Latino, Black American and global music. It is also a “love letter” to Aurora’s immigrant communities, Flores said, especially those who don’t always feel like they have a voice.
“Music is a way that gives people a way to express themselves fully without needing permission,” he said. “At the same time, it’s been a response to what’s been happening in our city. A lot of people don’t feel represented, especially in downtown.”
East Wind used to be in downtown on Downer Place, and at that point it was primarily just a music venue. But its new location, which soft opened on April 3, has grown into more.
Although some may call it a bar, Flores prefers the term “social club,” he said, because it feels a lot more intriguing. There’s no membership required, though, and one of Flores’ stated goals was to make the space as accessible as possible.
“I want it to grow into a safe space for young people of color — and, you know, for everyone,” he said. “We all indulge in ethnic artistic mediums, hence why I called it East Wind.”
Currently open every Friday and Saturday night, 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., patrons can expect live performances from musicians or DJs along with a full bar, a billiards table, a “living room” area with couches and chairs, board games and a chess table.
On a recent Saturday night, at around 10 p.m., a group could be seen hanging out and chatting in the living area near the bar, while others were playing billiards in the music room. A disco ball spun in one corner, casting light across the stage curtain.
Flores, who was standing in the open doorway between the bar area and the music area, said the night before had been livelier, with salsa music and dancing.
A patron, there with a friend celebrating their 21st birthday, called it “cozy.”
After its grand opening on May 29 — which is set to feature live music and DJs, vendors, food trucks and more — the social club will be open Thursday to Sunday, 6 p.m. to midnight or later.
Flores wants people to expect live music as much as possible, especially on Thursdays and Fridays. Like at its previous location, he hopes to have jazz jam sessions every first and third Thursday of the month.
He’s even working with the city to allow young people to come to the jam sessions, Flores said, since they are a great way for students to learn.
Those jam sessions are what got East Wind started, according to Flores. He started doing them out of his back yard, he said, and at one point he had a crowd of 100 on his patio, even though people had to direct message him for the address.
“It was so interesting to see so many people from different social backgrounds all interacting. Some people that are there for the jazz and some people that have never heard jazz before in their life were interacting with each other,” Flores said. “I was like, ‘We have to make this public.'”
The jam sessions were held in his back yard every Thursday of summer 2024 and of summer 2025 until around August, when East Wind moved downtown.
To start, it was just during that month’s First Fridays event, according to Flores. But one event led to another, he said, and then the building’s owner let him program events every weekend.
The last show at that downtown location was Jan. 21. Flores said he already had acts lined up for the new location while the finale played.
The building’s owners at East Wind’s new location come from the same ethnic background as Flores, he said, so he feels like they can agree on a lot. That extends not only to his music and menu programming, but also to his decorations, he said, which he has largely limited to just what would have been available in the 1960s and ’70s.
“There was such an artistic way of living,” Flores said of the time period. “Every aspect that people had in their lives was a medium of art, especially businesses.”
So far, East Wind has been able to attract “folks that are artistically inclined,” who want to “live intentionally,” he said. When a bunch of people who live the same way get into the same room, he said, it is much easier to socialize.
Flores wants his social club to be part of the growing number of spaces that make it easier for people to socialize. He hopes it is so unique that people come from up to an hour away just for this spot.
“People from Aurora already drive to the city,” he said. “I’ve been seeing what spots they go to. How can I make that accessible here?”
But at the same time, Flores is looking to build something real “to the community that is already here.” He’s particularly trying to tap into a specific culture he feels is lying dormant.
“Even in my generation, there’s some folks that go to their hometown in Mexico, where their parents are from — they say that they’re not Mexican enough. Then they come back here to the schools that they attend and say that they’re not American enough,” he said.
Flores wants East Wind to be somewhere “they don’t have to practice their culture and feel like it’s a costume.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
