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 The Chicago Archives of Alcohol A self-guided tour
The best way to understand the history of Chicago is to go to a saloon.
Much of Chicago's history, and especially its politics, revolved on a
barstool. The city's first civil uprising, the Lager Beer Riot of 1855,
began the intersection between booze and politics. This union was firmly
established by the 1890s, when "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse
John" Coughlin created and ran the city's first political machine from
Kenna's saloon.
It then continued with the early brewing empire of civic leader
Charles Wacker, through stockyard workers at corner taverns,
prohibition-era bootleggers to today's diversified drinkers. Yet while a
true museum will never be commissioned, several establishments still
serve as de facto galleries showcasing the social, economic and
political link between alcohol and Chicago's storied past.
In no place is this more evident than the House of Glunz. Located at
1206 North Wells, the liquor sales/distributorship was in business
almost a decade before the soon-to-be-closing Berghoff bar and
restaurant, making it the oldest liquor establishment in the city.
"My great grandfather started the business in 1888," Chris
Donovan says. "Before that he worked at a downtown-area brewery owned
by Charles Wacker. His friend and neighbor, Oscar Mayer, had already
established his meatpacking business, so with the urging and help of
Wacker and Mayer, he began selling beer in what was then the far North
Side."
Like the undisturbed attic of an old mansion, the House of Glunz is
cluttered with remnants of its past. Oaken beer barrels and a ten-cent
luncheon menu rest undisturbed next to shelves filled with bottles and
yellowed labels with names like Old Decanter Bourbon, Glunz Sloe Gin,
and Osborne Brandy. Many of the ancient bottles, however, are more than
mere relics. Today, the House of Glunz retails some of the rarest
spirits in the world. Many of them command prices that could be used to
pay down a home.
"Some of our more rare products that we sell include Joseph
Etournaud Brandy from 1895, a Spey Royal single malt Scotch whiskey with
a tax stamp from 1934, a pre-Castro rum, and Empress Josephine Brandy
from 1811 that sells for $8,000 a bottle," Donovan says. "Most of
these have been in our inventory the whole time, and collectors come
from all over the world to study and taste, as well as buy these
products."
Glunz also offers customers the option of buying more moderately
priced, hard-to-find spirits like Old Overholt Rye and a large selection
of fine wines.
"We believe that everybody should be able to afford a good wine, so
we offer a selection of fine, but carefully selected wines from around
the world for as low as ten dollars," Donovan says. "The building has been a bar/restaurant since the late 1880s, and
you can see from the peek-hole on the back door that it was speakeasy
during the 1920s and early thirties," Kim Schaller says.
The Schaller family bought the building just after Prohibition. At
that time Martin Kennelly was the first in a line of many Chicago mayors
to hail from Bridgeport. The Ambrosia Brewery, one of dozens of
neighborhood beer makers of the era, was located in what is now the
parking lot next door. Beer was supposedly pumped in straight from the
brewer's giant casks, giving the room its moniker, "Schaller's Pump."
"This has always been an ethnic bar," says Jack Schaller, now 82
years old. "I've seen the neighborhood change. First we had Jews along
Halsted, and a lot of Lithuanians who came to work in the stockyards,
which were only about two blocks south. Then the Irish and a few
Italians came. Now the neighborhood is predominantly Irish, but there
are a lot of Mexicans moving in as well."
During this time behind the bar, Schaller has also witnessed the
changes in social customs, especially those involving alcohol
consumption and drinking etiquette.
"As a kid growing up here, I used to notice that the women mostly
drank highballs, almost never beer. But now they drink beer," says
Schaller, whose father was also a law partner of Mayor Richard J. Daley.
"As for the men, the best sellers used to be strong whiskeys like 100
proof Old Grand Dad or Old Fitzgerald. They drank beers like Schlitz,
Hamm's, and local breweries like Ambrosia, Nectar and Canadian Ace. It
was also rare to see a woman smoking, but now they smoke more than the
men." Shinnick's Pub, 3758 South Union Avenue
Located almost kitty-corner from Schaller's Pump, Shinnick's has
also been a bar since the late 1890s. Owned by the Shinnick family since
1938, Celine Shinnick is the third generation to work behind the bar.
"I suppose it is too late to get in trouble for this, but during
Prohibition it was a speakeasy, " Shinnick says. "People used to come
in through the front entrance for the apartment upstairs, then go
through the hallway and have somebody ring them in. My father took over
in 1938 and it has been in the family since then."
Perhaps the most noticeable feature of this longtime Bridgeport
hangout is the antique back bar. Made out of oak, it features
Roman-style pillars, ornate wooden-knurled designs, a
turn-of-the-century wooden, saloon-style cash register, and rich wooden
cabinets and shelves that stock dozens of fine bourbons, Scotches, beer
and liquors. Like Schaller's with its brewery relationship, it was the
first distribution spot for the now-closed Canadian Ace Brewery located
at 3900 South Union. Famous politicos like Richard J. Daley and Morgan
Finley also hung their hats at Shinnick's. But unlike their neighbors,
Shinnick's also saw some important out-of-state visitors.
"During the 1950s my brother-in-law was an official with the
Teamsters, and he used to come in here with Jimmy Hoffa and hold
unofficial union meetings in the back room," Shinnick says. John Barleycorn, 658 West Belden
The building dates back to the 1890s and still contains the original
tin ceiling, wooden columns and two-foot-thick firewalls. During
Prohibition, the area that is now the rear dining room was a Chinese
laundry. This served as a front for bootleggers who rolled carts of
booze through the laundry into the basement. Legend has it that John
Dillinger frequented the saloon and often bought the house a round. The
Biograph Theater, where he was shot by Melvin Purvis, is just two blocks
north on Lincoln Avenue.
During the 1960s, Barleycorn became something of an artists'
hangout, noted for its slide projections of paintings and handmade
replicas of ships, some dating back to the 1800s. It was also one of the
first Chicago bars to become noted for giant inexpensive hamburgers,
which no doubt attracted its then-core crowd of hippies and young
artists. Today, the Barleycorn name has outlived many of the older
Lincoln Avenue bars including the Oxford Pub. Touché, 6412 North Clark
With the recent closing of Charmers, which had been a gay bar since
the end of Prohibition, Touché now stands as the city's oldest
continuously operating gay/leather bar. Originally opened in 1977 in a
blue-collar neighborhood at 2825 North Lincoln, longtime owner Chuck
Rodocker has seen times change from the disco era, through the onslaught
of AIDS, and into an era of "healthy moderation. Today people come in
to drink Perrier water, which is something that you couldn't have
imagined twenty years ago," Rodocker says. Now located in the Rogers
Park area, Touché is known as a co-sponsor of the Chicago Leather
Contest. Webster Wine Bar 1480 West Webster
The city's oldest wine bar is another testimonial to the continuing
changes in Chicago's socio-economic and drinking history. Opened in
1994, former litigation consultants Tom MacDonald and Janan Asfour were
part of the wave that changed the West Lincoln Park/Sheffield area from
one of factories and warehouses to condominiums and restaurants. Dark
and intimate, this candlelit room offers more than thirty wines by the
glass as well as a series of two-ounce flights for tasting. Their
selection also includes 400 different bottles wines, beer, single malt
Scotches, cognacs and light food specialties. Ironically, it is located
less than a block from the 100-year-old Gutmann Leather Tanneries, one
of the city's last links to its stockyard past. A representative from
the business said that the tanners do occasionally stroll in for a
chablis or cabernet after work, "but not too often." The Berghoff Restaurant 17 West Adams
The outcry of nostalgia centering around the upcoming closing of The
Berghoff has rivaled that of Marshall Field's, and highlights the
relationship between bars and Chicago's history. Opened in 1898, the bar
served free sandwiches to lure men to drink five-cent steins of
Berghoff's own beer, which was made in nearby Indiana. Like Glunz, the
company also expanded, making their own lines of bourbons and spirits.
During prohibition, the Berghoffs went into the pop business, and
continued to expand their full line of German-style food, which included
schnitzels, sausages and strudels. After Prohibition the restaurant
received the city's first liquor license, which is still displayed
proudly in the restaurant's entrance. The bar also made history when, as
the last all-male bastion in 1969, a group from the National
Organization of Women demanded to be served. Part of the building will
remain open as a catering business run by Herman Berghoff's daughter,
but the experience of drinking a dark, rich beer in the thickly paneled
room will never occur again.
"We share the sadness that many feel about the closing of our
restaurant," Herman Berghoff said. "It has been an honor to be part of
the fabric of Chicago."
Also by David Witter Song Sung Blues
Death in the Woods
Puppy love
Last, last call
Old Town Blues
Pie-eyed
Carnies
My parade, part 1
How does your garden grow?
The Life Aquatic
Last of the Slaughterhouses
Paint by numbers
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