Cataloging the Chicago dive bar scene is a daunting task. Midwestern drinking is a time-honored tradition and when mixed with a few hundred years of history and lake effect snow, the dive bar conditions are favorable. As a result, the rolling expanse of Chicago brings with it a patchwork of neighborhood dive bars, each unique, each catering to a separate micro-community in a city full of them.
Uniquely loved in Chicago is the dive bar “slashie,” the term given to hybrid businesses with liquor licenses old enough to allow on-site and to-go sales. That means places like
Rossi’s Liquors downtown and
Rite Liquors in Ukrainian Village offer the chance to sit down for a shot of Malort and grab a six-pack of Old Style for the road. Because these licenses aren’t available anymore, slashies are a dying breed but offer some of the best divey drinking in the city.
In a city where so much has happened, inevitably the dive bar stories can be fairly unique, from the serial killer-tinged history of
L&L Tavern to the nautically-inspired
Simon’s Tavern complete with Viking fish neon sign.
Rainbo Club can stake a claim to the independent music scene of early 1990s Chicago and
Shinnick’s Pub can tout itself as an Irish institution and one of the oldest in the city at that.
On every corner there’s a new discovery, making a bar crawl around the city a good idea no matter where it starts.
Nisei Lounge in Wrigleyville,
The Cove Lounge in Hyde Park and this reviewer’s favorite,
Inner Town Pub in Ukrainian Village, they and so many great dive bars like them offer perfect launching points to explore one of the world’s great (drinking) cities.
Chicago Dive Bar Guide
