Historic Bars of Chicago

They're famous and infamous, riddled with stories and scars, and thriving with contemporary personality alongside historic color. They're the essential bars for understanding what Chicago is all about. How about soaking up Chicago history and cultural knowledge one tavern at a time? In Historic Bars of Chicago author Sean Parnell delivers a compelling Chicago 101 and Masters program all in one. Simply visit the historic neighborhood pubs, dives, cocktail lounges, blues bars, jazz clubs, and bierstubes in his book; read a bit about them; mingle with the regulars; and join in their games, music, and banter. You will absorb the essence of the city and be thinking (and drinking) like a real Chicagoan in no time.

Kind of Like Museums...But You Can Drink There!

They're famous and infamous, riddled with stories and scars, and thriving with contemporary personality alongside historic color. They're the essential bars for understanding what Chicago is all about.

Your Chicago Bar Project

How about soaking up Chicago history and cultural knowledge one tavern at a time? In Historic Bars of Chicago, author Sean Parnell (chibarproject.com) delivers a compelling Chicago 101 and Masters program all in one. Simply visit the historic neighborhood pubs, dives, cocktail lounges, blues bars, jazz clubs, and bierstubes in his book; read a bit about them; mingle with the regulars; and join in their games, music, and banter. You will absorb the essence of the city and be thinking (and drinking) like a real Chicagoan in no time.

Chicago Culture on Tap

Pull up a barstool, order a cold one, and discover Chicago's past in its present.

--What is the oldest drinking establishment in Chicago?
--Which Chicago bar received the first liquor license following Prohibition?
--What are Chicago's oldest nightclub, blues bar, jazz club, sports bar, wine bar, and beer garden?
--What were Schlitz tied houses?
--What were the favorite hangouts of Al Capone, John Dillinger, Frank Sinatra, and Nelson Algren?
--What bars remain from the days of Polish Broadway?
--Where did Japanese Americans congregate after World War II?

Historic Bars of Chicago answers all these and more, plus includes profiles of Chicago's 100 most historic bars, entries devoted to suburban bars, tributes to bars we miss the most, indexes by age and bar type, 5 theme and 26 neighborhood historic pub crawls, and a coupon towards creating your own historic pub crawl by trolley.