Joe Shanahan

CTL-E-2599 · Person · promoter · 1982–present

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

Chicago music promoter and venue owner who opened Smart Bar in July 1982 and built Metro into an independent-music institution.

Referenced by

Smart Bar — founded by → this record
Smartbar — founded by → this record

Sources

Fandom — The Metro (Chicago) wiki
Congress.gov — Congressional Record: Metro 30th anniversary (Rep. Mike Quigley) (primary source)

Record CTL-E-2599 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 2 sources (1 primary) · 2 mapped relationships · CTL research: RELP-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Joe Shanahan (CTL-E-2599),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2599/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Joe Shanahan (CTL-E-2599).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2599/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Joe Shanahan (CTL-E-2599) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2599/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Joe Shanahan (CTL-E-2599).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2599/

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Hallway of a kitchenette apartment building, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

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