Light 'em up!

I'll submit Archie's, Chipp Inn, Inner Town Pub, Burwood Tap, T&A Too, and Shinnick's. I'm not sure if Turtle's qualifies since 33rd Street plays like a main drag during Sox games.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

J&M Tap

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

T&A Too

Yelp Review

Don't come here, stay away. They have nothing for you. Hipsters stay away, it's a republican establishment.


Typical JORR joint I see.

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Landmark Pub on Oriole. I think It's kind of in the Chicago/Harwood Heights/unincorporated Norwood Park nexus. I recently found out I know the current owner. I think he sold me and my friends weed when we were 13.

Newark Nook, on Newark. I think good dolphin has mentioned this place, mostly a cop bar.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Newark Nook: proudly displays early 70s cop riot gear.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I want to create a parody thread called "Favorite Side Track Bars", but I'm going to be nice during Pride Month.

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G&L Fire Escape

Good spot. R.I.P. Benny.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Would Fireside Inn be a de facto side street bar?

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I would consider it primarily a restaurant, but those other little shitholes on Ravenswood qualify. Ravenswood Pub and the other one. But I'm not even sure they still exist.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

If you open it up to places that aren't around anymore, I have a few. I remember very fondly hitting up some bar in the middle of the block on Eastwood or Giddings with my dad after little league at Dunham Park.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Yes, so many gone now. Bob & Kay's on Richmond and Waveland where I almost got into a fight with a midget.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

They looked like houses with Old Style signs hanging outside.

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Yeah, either that or they had glassblock windows. You can still see many of them that you know were once taverns.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Do never fight a little person. Unless you go all out and stomp the lil fucker--and end up looking like a brute who picks on smaller people. Midgets will bite, punch nuts...anything goes. No win situation.

True. And the midget in question was well aware of that fact. Which is why he thought he could get away with being a cute little smartass and didn't think I was going to crack him across his tiny little face.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

You know, Daley is a real butthole for squeezing these places out. If they are run properly, they are, or were the fabric of the community. It's like a meeting hall. I don't think most of them ended up being a nuisance because the community policed itself.

Daley really wasn't a Chicago guy, for all the talk about how he was from Bridgeport and loved this city. As soon as he got his money he immediately tried to distance himself to greater degrees from the people.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The article I read the other day when these came up said Richie's dad was the same. No tolerance for disorder in the neighborhoods. Allowed precincts to vote themselves dry and un grandfathered most of the rest out of existence. I knew a place in Bridgeport area that just had owners come in on Friday and Saturday nights and sell a couple cases of beer from Walgreen's at 50 cents a pop just to keep the licence current.

Either way I am sure Daley also didn't like us Polish or the Mexicans and dem Blacks having their own local joints.

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Elections have consequences.

Daley I absolutely feared the Polish. His most contested race was against a guy named Adamowski. He recognized the demographics and learned his lesson. The Polish vote has been systematically diffused in this city by Daley I and II to the point where there is not a single recognizably Polish name even holding an alderman's office.

Daley II had his plan for aligning with Latinos with the HDO. He gave its leadership absolutely free reign as long as it never challenged him.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yeah from where I come from Roman Pucinski and Al Majercyk were guys to know.

_________________
Elections have consequences.

I agree, but changing times may have killed many of these places anyway. The younger kids take their entertainments differently than previous generations.

For example, some time Shinnick's bartender Elmer, who I'm sure Peeps knows well, was pointing out how the guys and girls of his generation started and ended every Friday and Saturday at Shinnick's. They may have gone downtown or to a party in between, but like you say, the bar was the neighborhood meeting hall. He was lamenting that it's not really that way for the kids in their 20s now. It's still a neighborhood place, but not in the same way it was.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

A really good video on the neighborhood bar.

https://mediaburn.org/video/the-90s-raw ... at-lawrys/

Social media/dating apps killed the local tavern hook up scene. Girls stopped frequenting bars to get their social kicks except on special occasions.

I think it's coming back towards that now with the guys my age and a little younger. For a while Shinnicks didn't want the younger crowd so they left. Now that the kids are running it more, the younger generation is coming back and making the place a neighborhood gathering place again.

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I never considered them 20 year olds bars.

Once you have a family, a job and a mortgage, I would think there would be something comforting about being able to walk out to a place down the block for a couple at night where someone else you know is going to be as well.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

was Royko a recovering alcoholic?

I love his work. I consider Boss to be the seminal work for anyone who wants to know chicago. However, he was just a touch before my time. Was he an unnecessary asshole to everyone? You can see in that film a difference between him and Studs. I think he lived in my general area growing up and my parents did not speak well of him.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yeah, Royko was a great writer but also a tool. He was definitely a nasty drunk at one time. I think he threw a ketchup bottle at a woman and got sued. But the column about locking up his Wisconsin cabin after his first wife died is about as emotional as a piece of writing can get.

He lived in Edgebrook for awhile, right?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

He was raised around division and Milwaukee. He categorized the places he lived. Above tavern man as a kid, bingos man with his first wife. High rise man after she died. Last was suburban man and then he died. And both jorr and good dolphin are correct about the book and that column on closing the cabin. Great reads for very different reasons.

I can't remember. I read this book about Royko probably a decade ago: "Royko a Life in Print".

https://www.amazon.com/Royko-Print-F-Ri ... way&sr=8-1

Clearly at the beginning of the video he's in a foul mood. He's pissed to be there, pissed at the bartender, pissed at Studs, etc. Just an angry man in the video. I can't remember if he ever got off booze permanently, but I'm sure he went through dry phases.

What is great about that video is that as pissed off as Royko is, after about 90 seconds he's just on a roll and it's magic to see him and Studs talking about Chicago taverns. This exchange is the best:

Studs: What do you think about when you think of a Tavern?

Royko: Booze (super pissed)

Then literally 30 seconds later Royko says "Booze was secondary because it was a social aspect" so even though he's pissed and trying to give shitty answers he can't help himself from talking passionately about Chicago neighborhood taverns.

Another classic Royko on bars/softball, etc. He's drinking in this one so he is in a great mood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpuXfcx0pRU

I think he lived in that historical district part surrounded by woods and Edgebrook golf course. IIRC he was a real dick to his son who ended up having mental problems and burned the house down.

while i'm trying to drum up recollections I seem to remember them saying Royko was a real SOB when asked to participate in any polish American events or charity, like he was some self loathing guy

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.