Chicago’s history could send a chill up anyone’s spine. If you don’t think it might be even a little haunted as a result of its notorious gangster past, let’s meet at midnight on Halloween where the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre occurred. You go first! It’s...
When we think of Prohibition in America, we generally think of men. Capone, O’Banion, the Chicago police, the saloon owners. Where were the women? Despite what their absence in the history books might imply, women were shaking Chicago to its core, too. Fresh off winning...
By now the roads have reopened in Chicago and those that traveled to participate or cheer on a loved one have gone home. Hopefully the hoards of visitors and street closures didn’t keep you from your favorite Chicago watering holes! This was, of course, another...
The personalities that erupted during Prohibition really made it a spectacular experiment. There were few personalities as imposing as Carrie Nation’s. Carrie often went by the name, Carry A. Nation, as a play on her name and a slogan for her one-woman vendetta against alcohol....
Generally, conversations about the 1920’s in Chicago have a soundtrack of jazz and Tommy gun fire. If a decade had a smell, it would most certainly include gin flavored wood grain alcohol and for most of us, we can only really picture it in black...
The other Capone? Could the City of Chicago actually have handled two Capones during Prohibition? Fortunately, one was the good brother—the older brother lived in Homer, Nebraska where he made his living as a law enforcement official, after an unsuccessful attempt at joining the circus. ...
It’s almost impossible to tell any story about Prohibition in Chicago without mentioning Al Capone. The story of Dean O’Banion is no different, although colorful. The O’Banion family first moved to Chicago’s “Little Hell” neighborhood when Dean was only nine years old. Young O’Banion quickly joined...
Decoding the language of the 1920’s is an art form. Even English language was more colorful then, in a time when alcohol was the illicit drug of choice and no one was particularly safe from mob crime or political corruption. As we move into the...
Goodbye long, lazy evenings on Chicago’s magnificent rooftop bars, booze cruises on Lake Michigan, and cold brews in Wrigley’s friendly confines—well, maybe we have another month of those beers. Labor Day is the traditional marker of the end of summer and all that is good...
In the midst of the Prohibition Experiment, alcohol was blamed for almost every societal ill. Women want to work? Alcohol’s fault. Marriages deteriorating, blame alcohol. So maybe none of the resulting court cases were ever known as the trial of the century, but damn they...