Guthries
No possessive punctuation needed
Guthries is a pretty understated place. A regular neighborhood corner bar.
The image of the place in my mind sure had a lot less ivy on it when I started thinking about making this drawing. It certainly has served as neighborhood character for a long time.
When Guthries first raised their sign in 1986, it was symbolic of the full roar of gentrification in the neighborhood I grew up in. Lakeview was pretty rough around the edges when I was a kid, in fact this bar had been a Latin Kings hangout in the Seventies and early Eighties.
I remember rolling my eyes at the “fern bar” when it first showed up (possibly mimicking the adults around me). Checkered tablecloths on two tables in the front windows. Front windows! A fancy sign, this place doesn’t belong here. When I approached bar-going age, I considered the bar an affront, and I boycotted it. It wasn’t until some time in the early nineties that a friend wanted to meet me there and I actually went in, sat down and ordered a beer. It was a sunny afternoon, and the place was empty, aside from me and the bartender. While he was pouring me a beer from the tap, he nodded and said, “Nice shirt.” As I was going to explain that my t-shirt, with its large, bold, gold-metallic ink type, reading Rocky V, was kind of a joke, he revealed a Madonna Like a Virgin Tour t-shirt under his wrinkled button down. Brothers in irony.
I grew to like the spot, it still had the dumpy charms I look for, mixed with the right amount of updates. Low ceilings, old wooden floors soaked in decades of beer spills, an antique bar, but daylight can come through a few windows, and the beer in tap has a nice range of quality. And board games, if you’re a psychopath. They’ve had those since the beginning, I’m pretty sure.
It’s like the other stalwarts scattered through the neighborhood that I admire, trying to coexist with the Cubs fans without succumbing to becoming a generic sports cavern. Places like the Gingerman and Nisei Lounge. Spots in the hood with some character.
Or, not. Over the course of writing this, I learned that Guthries closed down permanently in July, due to the pandemic shut downs. That’s a bummer. I’m not sure what independent tavern business can survive strictly indoors these days.
Keep your eyes open for a Latin Kings GoFundMe.
Related Links
Guthries Closing After 34 Years
Song of the Week
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Had me at "dumpy charms". That Chicago Gang History site is amazing.