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Sure, a picture says a thousand words, but a photo booth strip says something closer to, “We were here, and we were briefly this version of ourselves.” It’s a fleeting moment, a tiny diary entry, something that can only happen behind the curtain of a booth.
The Strip Club trades in this kind of sentimental magic. Located at 1702 North Damen Avenue in the heart of Wicker Park, the new spot houses 10 analog and digital photo booths (with one more on the way), each offering a slightly different personality. One prints a single image framed by a heart-shaped doily. Another delivers three strips of dreamy black-and-white photos, ready to be divided among friends like rations after a long night out. The Strip Club is also home to the oldest operating photo booth available to the public: a pill-shaped behemoth that goes by the name “Lady.” Each strip costs $7, and yes, the machines accept credit cards—nostalgia, modernized.
Praise be, The Strip Club isn’t the product of some venture capital-backed brainstorm session. It’s the latest project from husband-and-wife team Anthony and Andrea Vizzari, whose company A&A Studios supplies photo booths to many of Chicago’s favorite bars and music venues (Empty Bottle, Cafe Mustache, Schubas Tavern and then some), as well as spots across the country.
The Vizzaris’ photo booth origin story dates back to 2007, when Anthony began tinkering with used machines in the garage of their Logan Square home. For him, it was a natural extension of a lifelong camera obsession. “A photo booth is like one big camera—at least that’s how I saw it,” he says. Eventually, the collection outgrew the garage and required warehouse space. Andrea, meanwhile, has been a devotee for most of her life, with boxes crammed with thousands of vintage strips to prove it.
This isn’t the couple’s first foray into brick-and-mortar. In 2010, they opened a camera shop in Oak Park, becoming the only Midwest vendor for the Impossible Project’s sought-after Polaroid film. For years, Andrea daydreamed about a storefront in Wicker Park—an escape hatch from her draining corporate job. She just didn’t imagine it would be a space filled with the soft hum of vintage photo booths.
“This is really the highest peak of photo booths we’ve ever seen,” Anthony says. “It’s about the experience—cramming in with your friends to get a tangible artifact. Proof. Evidence that a night existed.” Each booth offers its own quirks, formats and visual character, ensuring that the evidence is as unique as the moment itself.
Anthony is also quick to point out that none of this is new. Photomaton pioneered the concept in the 1920s, setting up automated portrait booths in cities like Paris and New York, offering working-class people access to a kind of documentation that had once been reserved for the wealthy. The Strip Club taps into that same democratic spirit, welcoming all ages—including those too young to encounter photo booths in bars.
“I think about myself as a teen going to the mall at Woolworth’s, piling into a photo booth with all my friends—I lived for that,” Andrea says. “I want to share that with people. Digital has taken some of that away.”
Before The Strip Club opens for its much-anticipated preview, friends of the Vizzaris and the Photomatica team drift between machines, coaxing them into good behavior before the press arrives. Photo booths are fickle creatures, but for the Vizzaris, this is a labor of love. Everything is customized, right down to the internal lenses. Anthony and Andrea speak about each machine the way others talk about pets—with a deep fondness for their individual quirks and temperaments.
During a quiet moment before the preview, Anthony shows me a small archive of historical photo strips—vernacular photographs, some dated and annotated on the back like pocket-sized journal entries. Andrea used to do the same, marking who she was with, when and where.
“That’s what I love,” Anthony says, pointing to a single strip. “That.”
“It’s being in the moment,” Andrea adds, her voice catching slightly. “It’s not a planned photo you can edit or delete. It’s spontaneous. It’s everyone just being themselves.”
That spirit of spontaneity arrives in Wicker Park this week. The Strip Club opens its doors to the public on Friday, February 6, from noon to 10pm. All ages—and even pets—are welcome, with daily operating hours to be announced.