A ‘Love Note’ to Evanston: Club owner hopes to build community through jazz 

Local Note jazz club is taking shape on 1716 Sherman Ave. in an alley between two Evanston businesses. Photo by Valentina Valcarce / North by Northwestern

After more than three decades designing retail spaces and displays for companies like Nike and L’Oréal, Kurt Schauer decided to build a room of his own in Evanston, the city where he was born and raised. In spring he plans to open a live-music venue called Local Note and become “the master of [his] own journey,” he said. To give his professional life more meaning...