For a dive bar with Olde Towne Inn’s history, balancing the polish of renovations with the soul of a timeless space is difficult. The space today does exactly that, a secondary space positioned as a surprisingly large seating area with modern bar elements like digital dart boards and Chicago-licensed gaming machines made available. But a little context for the space opens up a new level of appreciation, this area reclaimed from what was once a garage attached to the main structure, two arches that serve today as interior transitions once used as garage doors.
Through those arches, the original bar curves around the remaining space, offering that classic dive bar community feeling created by basically forcing people to look at each other while they drink. On this reviewer’s visit, that meant joining a group conversation almost seamlessly, jumping in on local and non-local topics, everything friendly, everything communal, a testament to the community built by Olde Towne Inn. Liquor bottles sit on a small island in the center of the horseshoe bar, a handful of beer taps available as well.
Decorations mix fresh signs with faded photos, a few elements of Smitty’s days gone by visible in places, including a handful of black and white photos above the transition to a third, back area that houses additional gaming machines. A handful of neon beer signs mingle with novelty signs, all of it dispersed in a measured deliberate way rather than the clutter that sometimes characterizes dive bar décor.
Simply put, it would be difficult to find a more community-focused, welcoming neighborhood dive bar than Olde Towne Inn, a fact made all the more impressive by the pre-Prohibition history found in its structure. Renovations have polished up some previously rough edges, but the bar, the arches, the windows, they all let the bones of this 1927 original shine through, the kind of balance that is hard to achieve but done exceedingly well by this Elgin staple rightfully labeled a community institution.