“I never thought I’d need a place outside of home or work, that third place. This was the place that made me realize that. For me, it wasn’t about the drinking.” Fond memories of the Rainbo Club in Wicker Park, a vital part of the city’s art scene. This oral history is part of my […]
Article/Interview Eater.com October 2012 Link There are neighborhood bars—somewhere you don’t have to work to get a seat or the bartender’s attention, a dive that you like in a non-ironic way. And then there are bars that define a neighborhood. While the personality of Wicker Park seems malleable, as aspiring hotspots dilute the bohemian character […]
Article/Interview Eater.com June 2012 Link In a city of divided loyalties, a bar that counted both Cubs announcer Harry Caray and White Sox owner Bill Veeck as regulars must be on to something. Miller’s Pub, a longtime Loop fixture at 134 S. Wabash, has the warm patina of Old Chicago, with a wooden bar worn […]
Article/Interview Eater.com April 2012 Link Photo by Grant Kessler For many Chicagoans, their love affair with Belgian beer was first consummated at the Hopleaf, the Andersonville beer mecca started by husband-and-wife owners Michael Roper and Louise Molnar. Named after a brew from Malta, the origin of those red hopleaf signs decorating the bar, this Far […]
Article/Interview Chicago Reader March 20, 2014 Link “Three shots closed Texas Guinan’s show at the Green Mill cafe, Lawrence avenue and Broadway, at 4 o’clock yesterday morning. The internationally known night club hostess was asking the suckers to give the little girl a big hand.”—Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1930 It’s not uncommon to walk into a bar in […]