"Welcome Back Lounge" getting closer to opening on hot Milwaukee Avenue, Logan Square

Welcome Back Lounge looking groovy in Logan Square

This is a great name and I'm sure a lot of long time bar owners are kicking themselves for not taking it.  Hope the business does justice to the name!

Former Lincoln Square Lanes site will be new Kiddie Academy of Chicago (of course!)

Former site of Lincoln Square Lanes and Matty K's Hardware store at 4874 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL 60625

There goes the neighborhood... for sure! Gritty, iconic Lincoln Square Lanes, the beloved bowling alley of Lincoln Square since 1918, burned down September 2015.  The building demolished and the site has remained vacant since. Many of my family now in their 70s and 80s bowled here during their youth! I had my 30th surprise birthday party there.  Sigh. 

Report from 40th Ward Alderman O'Connor is a new Kiddie Academy of Chicago will be developed.  Childcare is a much needed service in the neighborhood but still... ouch LOL

Before the renovation the quirky dive bar/ bowling alley was home to a great old school jukebox where aging punks, neighbors, musicians and all around characters could drink cheap beer and roll some terrible scores! After the 2012 renovation the Lincoln Square Lanes maintained some grit but was even fun for the whole family offering video games, music and lots of screens to watch the games.

Typical chocolate martini drinking clientele of Lincoln Square Lanes.  St. Matthias School families were big supporters of our local "go to" sports bar. 

There have been many condo units built near the Lincoln Lanes site over the past 10 years.  30 condo units have been sold along 4800 N - 5200 N Lincoln Ave over the last 12 months.  The median price of a closed condo is $560,000. 

More news and photos HERE

Doomed Mulligan's in Lincoln Square closes, "KENIA Sports Bar and Grill" on the way

Mulligan's Sports Bar located at 5155 N Lincoln Avenue has closed.  I'm no stranger to local drinking establishments and I never once thought about going to this place. It never looked open and the local "dive bar" competition is very strong in Lincoln Square. An awning with the name "KENIA Sports Bar and Grill" graces the storefront now. I can't find any information for the new business but we wish them luck. 

The location is on a busy stretch of Lincoln Avenue at West Foster about three blocks from my house.  La Cabana de Don Luis (a Mexican restaurant that I really want to like and need to take another shot) next door has been there at least three to four years. Jimmy's Pizza (which I like a lot) two doors down from "KENIA" anchors this otherwise nondescript mixed use building.

Anybody have insight on KENIA?

Quirky Edgewater drinking hole on Ravenswood now new condos

Remember the Ravenswood Pub? In leaner and looser years I could be found there with some friends playing pool, throwing darts and eating free Sloppy Joes during Sunday football in the VFW style bar.

The old Ravenswood Pub located at 5455 N Ravenswood Avenue Chicago, IL 60640 in Edgewater closed in 2012. Condos rise on the property.  There goes the neighborhood!

I took this photo above for the many mates who have sat around the circle bar at Ravenswood Pub in the late 90s and early 2000s.  The old one story frame structure was torn down making way for the ubiquitous red brick six unit condo building currently being built.  I don't see a listing for the homes on or off the MLS as of yet.  However, the "West Andersonville" location is very popular and new condos here will be in demand.

The Ravenswood Pub, image from Google Maps

The property adjacent to the south looks poised to be "Phase II" of the development.  About 9 attached units have sold from 5200 North Ravenswood to 5600 North Ravenswood over the last two years with a median price of only $250,000. However, all the units were smaller, older re-sale units.  The new construction two beds/ two baths should sell over the $400,000 range.

Now this is a pub

The Red Lion at North Rockwell and West Lawrence in Ravenswood Gardens neighborhood of Lincoln Square.



English and Scottish beers, leather back chairs, fish and chips and stories.

posted from Bloggeroid

I checked out Gideon Welles in Lincoln Square

A late night photo of Gideon Welles and the outdoor patio at Sunnyside and Lincoln. 

I met some long time neighborhood friends at the new Gideon Welles last night for Thursday Night Football.  The patio was rocking when I arrived just after 8pm.  The prominent corner location across from Welles Park is terrific.  Many of the bar windows and doors were open to the neighborhood on a muggy night.

I went with a refreshing Allagash White and hot wings (nice plate for $9.00).

I was more interested in the Packers game than taking photos (disaster!).  The screens were very good in the bar and the staff very welcoming.  The bartender was a pro.  My friends had already taken their families out on the patio for lunch late this summer after Welles Park ballgames.

We spend a lot of time in the neighborhood and look forward to making this a regular spot for games or outdoor eating by the park.

Photos! "New" Red Lion English Pub under construction in Lincoln Park

Ongoing construction of the new Red Lion English Pub building at 2446 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL 60614. Let us pray it maintains some level of maturity and quirkiness as the old place (Photo Bob DePalma, Real Estate Broker).

The Red Lion was my favorite pub in Chicago for many years.  In the infant days of our marriage, I would head over to the Red Lion at 11pm on a week night and have a couple pints while waiting for my wife to get off her nursing shift at Children's Memorial on Lincoln Avenue. If she was running late?  No worries. Bass and Newcastle were my beers over conversation.

I wasn't big on taking a lot of pictures in those days and regretfully do not have any photos of us in the original building. We loved looking out the front picture window on a snowy Chicago night.


Eater Chicago had a report on the construction and opening back in 2013.  The target opening date for the new Red Lion was to be February of this year.  Rick Kogan from the Chicago Tribune wrote this piece in September 2013 with a May target date for the new pub.