Switchback occupies a decommissioned L-station platform in the Circuit, specifically the elevated section where the old Brown Line curved between Diversey and Wellington. The CTA hasn't run trains through this stretch since 2171, but the platform remains — open to the sky, thirty feet above street level, with the original station canopy providing partial shelter and the track bed converted into a long, narrow bar that runs the full length of the platform. Drinking at Switchback means sitting on the edge of what used to be public transit, your feet dangling over a neighborhood that has rebuilt itself without you.

The owner, Jun Kowalski-Ampofo, was a transit engineer before the CTA contracted its northern routes. She kept the station's emergency lighting, the departure boards (now displaying drink specials and the occasional cryptic personal message), and the turnstiles at the entrance, which still require a token. Jun mints her own tokens — brass discs stamped with the Switchback logo — and hands them out to customers she wants to see again. No token, no entry after 22:00. This creates a self-selecting crowd of regulars who are invested in the bar's survival and each other's company, which is Jun's way of building community through infrastructure, because that's the only way she knows how to build anything.

The view from Switchback is the real draw. On clear nights, you can see from the Loop's Spire towers to the dark line of the lake, with the Circuit sprawling below in a galaxy of street-level light. The elevated position also means excellent signal reception, which makes Switchback an unofficial communications hub — the place where the Circuit's population checks messages, takes calls, and conducts the low-level digital commerce that requires a clean signal. Jun doesn't advertise this. She doesn't need to. People figure it out, and they come back, and they buy another drink while they're uploading.