Cunneen’s

Chicago, Illinois

Field Note

In a city filled with countless cozy neighborhood dive bars, Cunneen’s may be one of Chicago’s best examples of a quintessential corner pub. The simplicity of the bar’s exterior dominated by a classic green awning and basic sign betrays the rich warmth of the Cunneen’s interior filled with dark wood, gentle lighting and even plants, honest-to-goodness live plants that somehow complement the dive bar vibe in a uniquely Cunneen’s way.

Opened by then-graduate student Stephen Cunneen in 1972, the plot that today houses Cunneen’s dates back to at least 1927 when it was occupied by a children’s clothing store. After multiple business rotated through the space over the intervening decades, Cunneen eventually purchased what was then a bar named Down The Street, put his name over the door and operated the business for nearly 50 years until his death in 2022.

Though Cunneen has passed, his influence can be found in every nook and cranny of the Rogers Park dive bar’s orbit. Shortly after his passing, the street just outside the bar’s front door was ceremonially renamed Steve Cunneen Way, made official thanks to a street sign hung from a nearby lamppost. Though a classic Chicago Old Style beer sign once hung above the bar, Cunneen’s was compelled by the local alderman to update the sign in 2014, resulting in the current version of the sign that depicts a green dot, the name of the bar and its founding year of 1972.

Before going to graduate school, Cunneen was a tradesman with a unique talent in woodworking, a skill deployed to engaging effect through a handful of hand-crafted pieces inside the dive bar. Many of the tables & chairs still in use were built by Cunneen, as was the stained glass-style light hanging over the bar’s pool table. Though it can be easy to miss, be sure to look above the doorway from the inside of Cunneen’s to spot another stained glass frame also handmade by Cunneen.

Cunneen’s is intentionally constructed as a bar to have a conversation rather than obsess over a sporting event, reflected in the relatively low volume of both the bar’s lone television and the music emanating from the vinyl record player in the corner. Cunneen maintained a well-stocked collection of jazz records, but the ultimate music authority sat with the bartender on duty, offering a slightly different vibe depending on who was working that day.

After a handful of years tending bar, Cunneen ultimately gave the reins over to a series of well-trusted bartenders, preferring to sit at the end of the bar with a crossword puzzle. Cunneen visited the bar daily until just shortly before his death, ingratiating himself to the surrounding neighborhood through countless thoughtful interactions over his decades of dive bar ownership. In 2013 with the bar’s roof caved in, Cunneen shuttered the bar for repairs but surprised staff with full payments upon reopening reflecting all of the missed shifts that took place while Cunneen’s was closed.

The bar is owned and managed today by Cunneen’s window Belinda, who worked at the bar decades ago before leaving the city of Chicago and starting a family elsewhere. After going through a divorce, Belinda moved back to Chicago and sought out a conversation with her old manager that eventually led to marriage in 2018, making Steve Cunneen a married man for the first time at age 83.

Refreshingly, the conversation-focused environment so treasured by Steve Cunneen is still very much intact, the ambiance a soothing combination of wood tones, green paint and small bursts of soft lighting that set a very intentionally intimate mood as far as dive bars go. So focused on conversation was Cunneen that he built the phone booth that can still be seen at Cunneen’s today. After pay phones faded, the booth was used to banish cell phone users before ultimately converting into housing for the bar’s ATM machine (Cunneen’s is cash only, naturally).

Cunneen’s may be one of the most serene dive bars in Chicago, no perch better suited to a quiet conversation than the two elevated platforms in the front windows on either side of the bar’s front door. These secluded alcoves include a small table, pair of chairs and a church-like pew, offering a perfect vantage point to survey the world both inside and outside of Cunneen’s.