The Levee

Chicago, Illinois

Field Note

Those familiar with the city of Chicago will know that the city stretches seamlessly and ceaselessly into the suburbs west of The Loop. Thankfully, each city block is a new opportunity to discover a fresh dive bar and The Levee is Hermosa’s most attractive example of that phenomenon. The bar is difficult to miss thanks to both the massive sign attached to the building and the unique opaque glass block columns that flank the front door. Less obvious is the Chicago dive bar’s extensive history with roots in burlesque.

The space now known as The Levee was opened in 1928 as Gayety Village, operated by Ben Rynkus and his wife, Trudy DeRing. DeRing performed burlesque shows in Gayety Village and around the country under her stage name, Radiana, during the 1930s. During the 1950s, bar ownership passed to the McDuff family who re-christened the space, you guessed it, McDuff’s. Current owner Warren Johnson purchased the bar with wife Renee in 1979.

Johnson served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, spending time in a Kansas City bar named The Levee Bar & Grill that served as inspiration for the naming of Johnson’s new bar. The font style used in Kansas City’s The Levee looks strikingly similar to the font found on the sign currently attached to its Chicago sequel. Johnson brought with him an athletic pedigree that turned into a successful local 16-inch softball career that ultimately landed him in the 16-Inch Softball Hall of Fame.

The Levee stretches over two massive rooms, both excellently tuned to sports viewing thanks to an abundance of screens and an undulating main room bar that allows for easy angles for both screen watching and conversation. The stools that surround the bar were rescued from a Soldier Field skybox and ample Chicago Cubs signage can be found throughout the space, though Johnson is less hostile to White Sox fans than some northside bar proprietors. The bar’s Sunday hours start not at a specific time but rather the satisfyingly ambiguous time of “Kickoff.”

In 1992, George Wendt, Chris Farley and Robert Smigel filmed a series of Chicago Bulls-themed commercials as an extension of their popular Saturday Night Live Chicago Bears Superfans set of sketches. The commercials ran ahead of game-by-game promotions on local television and the bar’s front entrance is seen prominently at the start of each spot (looking exactly as it does today).

Christmas, Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day are prime visiting opportunities at The Levee when the space is transformed in line with the season’s theme. Halloween in particular consumers both of The Levee’s spacious rooms with lines of decorations gracing the floor, walls and ceiling. String lights trace the small ceiling ridge that matches the twists and turns of the bar beneath it and thankfully The Levee is not without that most sacred of dive bar illumination methods, the stained glass-style hanging lamp.

A massive party room houses pool tables, a second bar, more screens and framed historical mementos from the bar’s life as Gayety Village. Live events are held here on occasion, including karaoke, and the entire space can be rented out on a nightly basis. Maybe more practically, the dueling drinking areas within The Levee accentuate the conversation-sparking purpose of the brass bar itself, offering distinct spaces for individual groups to congregate.