No. 9 – The Chatterbox Jazz Club

Best Music Closet

We hope David Andrichik, the Mass Ave pioneer and Chatterbox proprietor, doesn’t take this the wrong way, but let’s face it: His tiny joint is a total dive. It was a bleak skid-row saloon when he bought it, and to his credit—though gentrification flourished all around him—he changed virtually nothing. Not the lousy linoleum floor, the nicotine-stained paneling, or the bathroom’s swinging outhouse door. (At least he added a stage.) But the jazz musicians who perform there, and the toe-tapping art-schoolers and wine-sipping literati who crowd the shotgun bar to hear them, really class things up. If Andrichik ever got around to renovating, not only would he lose them, but his bar would drop right out of the Top 10. From our perspective, the imperfections are, well, perfect.

435 Massachusetts Ave., 317-636-0584

LIFE BEHIND BARS: Chatterbox owner David Andrichik has a story to tell.

Photo by Tony Valainis

This article appeared in the January 2013 issue.