The Old Town Neighborhood in Chicago was "COOL" in the 1950s, "HIP" in the 60s and "FAB" in the 70s. The History with over 80 photographs.

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In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias creating a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. I'm well aware that historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, and members instigating arguments and fights.

The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN

or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED, are explained in this article.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.

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THE OLD TOWN TRIANGLE HISTORY

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, today's Old Town area was known as "Cabbage Patch" from the German immigrants that grew potatoes, celery, and cabbages on the marshy land. The area was then called "North Town" (not Nortown) as it straddled North Avenue, which was the northern boundary of Chicago.

On October 14, 1948, about 25 neighborhood residents met to discuss improving what was referred to as Old Town (the attribution of which is generally credited to Charles Collins of the Chicago Tribune in 1944). At that time, the "founders" referred to themselves as "The Clark, Ogden, North Triangle," later shortened to "The Triangle" until September 20, 1951, when members voted to officially change the name to the "Old Town Triangle Association," which was initially sponsored by the North Side Planning Council, a Chicago city agency.

During World War II, the triangular area bordered by North Avenue, Clark Street, and Ogden Avenue, which ran up to Lincoln Park until the 1960s, was designated a "neighborhood defense unit" by the Chicago Civil Defense Corps.

1940s North Town Triangle

NOTE: According to a 2008 Tribune article, Old Town is  bounded by Division Street (south) to Armitage Avenue (north), and Clark Street (west) to Halsted Street (east).

The first President elected to the Old Town Triangle Association was James Beverly. 

Helen Guilbert and Sara Jane Wells were two movers and shakers regarding trees in the Triangle, planting flowering "Hopa" crabapple trees in 1959. They watered the trees with the help of area residents loaning their garden hoses to water the trees by their houses for the months it took for them to stabilize and then let mother nature take over.

When Bob Switzer passed away, he endowed the OTTA with funds to improve the parkways in the late 1970s.

THE MENOMONEE BOYS CLUB

The Menomonee Boys Club was founded in 1946 by a group of concerned Old Town neighbors to "provide wholesome recreation as a means of keeping children off the streets." Menomonee funding has always been tied closely to the neighborhood.

 

This building is called the Willow Clubhouse, opened in 1950, and is the oldest of four Menomonee Club buildings.

With the help of the North Side Boys Club, the group rented an Old Town storefront and began offering ping pong, shuffleboard, boxing, baseball, woodworking, and choral singing. Membership was 50 cents, and more than 100 children joined during the first few weeks. It started out being a boys' Club, with girls allowed in once per week. That didn't last long. Soon, girls were regularly coming, and The Menomonee Club for Boys and Girls was born. Kids gathered to take lessons, play checkers, and just hang out.

In 1950, the Club's director Joe Vitale discovered a two-lane bowling alley on Willow, and The Club could buy it for $13,000. Its founding members scraped together a down payment and spent the next four years raising the rest of the money for the Menomonee Clubhouse. When it was finally paid for, a celebration was held – a mortgage-burning party!

THE OLD TOWN ART FAIR

The Crilly Court Apartments held a Jamboree (block party) that predated the Old Town Art Fair to raise money for a playground. The event was so successful that the Crilly residents decided to expand its mission to include The Menomonee Club and other neighborhood activities. Folklore says the Jamboree inspired the Art Fair.

The Old Town Triangle Association decided to hold an art fair they named "Old Town Holiday" in June of 1950 to raise funds for the Menomonee Club. Shortly after, the Art Fair's name was changed to the Old Town Art Fair, which evolved into a nationally-known event.

Old Town, Chicago, Art Fair, 1954.

THE HISTORY OF OLD TOWN

In its early years, people didn't go to Old Town on Wells Street (5th Avenue before the 1909 Chicago street renaming and renumbering)... they just went to Wells Street. During the early 1960s, when the commercial part of the area, the "Old Town" designation, was commandeered. The area residents were unhappy and considered changing the name of "The Triangle" to "Old Town" until they realized they had owned that designation first.

To Clarify: The Triangle = Old Town and Vice Versa. 

The residents changed the direction of streets (St Paul and Eugenie) to one way going east to spare themselves the horrendously large volume of auto traffic on Wells Street. In the 1960s, there was so much Friday and Saturday night traffic that it could take 2 hours to drive from North Avenue to Division Street or Division to North Avenue.

Wells Street became Old Town's main street sometime in the early 1960s. Rumor has it that the Old Town School of Folk Music, founded in 1957, was the catalyst for the retail development of Wells Street as musicians flooded into the area, drinking and entertainment establishments flourished, and retailers followed.

In an age when people were fleeing the city for the suburbs, and then urban renewal was leveling nearby areas, local small business owners dug in, and Old Town became a medley of bohemian artists, trendy shops, flashy tourist spots, bars and taverns, museums, and lots of restaurants.

Guilbert ran a short-lived newspaper called "The Old Town News" in 1957.

In the late 1960s, Old Town became Chicago's hippie haven.

Businesses (throughout time) in Old Town:

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• Barbara's Bookstore
• Beans
• Bizzare Bazaar (Hippy & Head Shops)
• A Marijuana Paraphernalia Vendor (1960s-70s)
• A Silver Jewelry Vendor
• Indoor Bumper Car Ride
• T-Shirt Shop (Tie Dye & Heat Transferred Decals)
• Bootleg Records
• Caravan
• Climax Art Gallery
• Crate and Barrel
• Dabstract (Spin Painting) 
• Dave Menza - Old Town Photography 
• Davis-Congress Men's Wear 
• Fly by Night Antiques
• Head Quarters
• Horse of a Different Color
• Horsefeathers 
• House of Glunz (liquor sales since 1888)
• Johnny Brown's Sandal Shop
• Madge Women's Clothing 
• Maiden Lane [Indoor] Shopping Center (1525 North Wells Street)
• Granny's Toy Shop
• The Smugglers Gift Shop
• The Tye Shop
• The Wiggery
• Old Town Aquarium
• Old Town Gate (Antiques)
• One Octave Lower (Record Store)
• Parlor Jewelry
• The Emporium
• The Fig Leaf
• The Fudge Shop
• The Man at Ease
• The Old Town Auction House
• The Old Town Shop
• The Old Treasure Chest
• The Oriental Gift Shop
• The Paper Dress Store
• The Scratching Post
• The Town Shop 
• The What Not Shop 
• The Wick-ed Shoppe (Candles)
• Toptown Clothing 
• Wecord Woom
• Zanies Comedy Night Club

SHOPPING CENTERS ON WELLS STREET

Maiden Lane at 1525 N. Wells Street, a shopping center that fits almost none of the conventional ideas of what a shopping center should look like, opened in May of 1966 with space for 20 shops. Maiden Lane was once a garage owned by Henry Susk of Susk Pontiac. Susk found the garage was surrounded by gift shops, antique stores, restaurants, and bistros that have changed the character of North Wells. He decided the building could be remodeled to create the atmosphere of London's Old Maiden Lane shopping area. 

A "lane" ran thru the center of the building, lined with small shops reminiscent of London, and old English gaslights add to the illusion. Near the rear of the building, the lane widens into a square with a fountain.

Frank C. Wells, senior vice president of L.J. Sheridan & Company, Maiden Lane's leasing agent, said this may be one of the smallest shopping centers the firm has ever assisted in developing and leasing. It is also one of the most interesting. Actually, Wells pointed out, Maiden Lane follows the latest concepts of shopping center design, including a heated covered mall, outstanding shopper circulation, and distinctive architecture.

• Maiden Lane Shopping Center. There were more stores inside than these four:
• Granny's Toy Shop
• The Smugglers Gift Shop
• The Tye Shop
• The Wiggery

A giant Tiffany lamp hung outside the entrance to the maze of unusual retail shops.

Piper's Alley was opened in November of 1965 by Rudolph Schwartz and Jack Solomon, owners of the five buildings making up the 15 shops that once made up Piper's Bakery and stables.

Shoppers, diners, and the curious walked up and down an original turn-of-the-century alley paved with Chicago Street Paver Bricks and lined with time-period street lamps.

WITHIN PIPER'S ALLEY: Businesses & Restaurants (throughout time)

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• Aardvark Cinematheque (Movie Theatre)
• Arts International Gallery
• Bustopher Jones Boutique
• Charlie's General Store
• Design India (Furniture and Imported Items)
• Grin N Bare It
• In Sanity (Party Goods Store)
• Jack B. Nimble Candle Shop
• La Piazza Restaurant
• Male M1 Men's Shop
• Off the Hook (Decorator Items)
• Peace Pipe (Smoking Paraphernalia)
• Personal Posters (Instant Immortality - photo to poster in 15 minutes)
• Poor Richards
• That Steak Joynt Restaurant [attached: Entrance on Wells St]                                          (Claimed Haunted as customers and staff report.)
• That Hair Shoppe
• The Bratskellar
• The Caravan (Handcrafts Store)
• The Flypped Disc (Record Store)
• The Glass Unicorne
• The Hungry Eye
• The Jewelry Shop
• The Sweet Tooth (Old Fashioned Candy)
• Two Brothers
• Volume 1 Book Shop
• Ye Olde Farm House Restaurant [attached: Entrance on Wells St]

A 1960s Advertisement

 

Note the original "Chicago Street Paver Bricks" in Piper's Alley. 

 

Charlies General Store

La Piazza in Pipers Alley, 1967

Now Leaving Pipers Alley

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Entertainment & Pubs (throughout time) in Old Town:

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• House of Horror
• Like Young (Teen) Nightclub
• Mother Blues
• My Sisters Place (For the Younger Set)
• Philrowe Club 
• Quiet Knight
• Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum
• Second City Theater 
• Judy's Juniors- 'Teenage Halabalu'
• Marge’s Still (since 1955), in Old Town Triangle (A Pub since 1885)
• The Crystal Pistol (Topless/Music)
• The Earl of Old Town Cafe & Pub
• The Exit Saloon
• The Old Town School of Folk Music
• The Outhaus
• The Plugged Nickel 
• The Purple Cow
• The Royal London Wax Museum
• Window A Go-Go

Restaurants & Foods (throughout time) in Old Town:

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• Beef & Bourbon Restaurant
• Bistró Margot
• Chances R Restaurant
• Dinottos
• Franksville Hot Dogs & Hamburgers
• La Strada Restaurant (Continental)
• Little Pleasures Ice Cream Parlor
• Lum's Restaurant (Family)
• Old Fashioned Fudge
• Old Town Ale House
• Old Town Rib Shack
• Orsos
• Paul Bunyan Restaurant (Family)
• "Hot Biscuit Slim's" Bakery
• That Steak Joynt Restaurant (claimed to be haunted as customers and staff members reported bizarre supernatural experiences.)
• The Fireplace Inn (Upscale)
• The Fudge Pot
• The Golden Dragon Cantonese Restaurant
• The Pickle Barrel Restaurant (Jewish Delicatessen)
• The Pup Room (Red Hots & Hamburgers)
• The Stage Coach Restaurant (Family)
• Topo Gigio
• Twin Anchors, in Old Town Triangle
• Uno's Pizza (Deep-Dish)
• Ye Olde Farm House Restaurant (Family)

La Strada Restaurant Entrance at 1531 N. Wells Street, 1965

La Strada, 1531 N. Wells Street, Old Town, Chicago, 1965 postcard. A Continental Restaurant with an authentic European atmosphere provided by the owner, Buona Fortuna.

La Strada, 1531 N. Wells Street, Old Town, Chicago, 1965 postcard. A Continental Restaurant with an authentic European atmosphere provided by the owner, Buona Fortuna.

Besides the restaurants in Piper's Alley, other Old Town restaurant choices included the Chances R Restaurants were famous for its burgers and for allowing you to throw peanut shells on the floor. The restaurant's name reflected the uncertainty of this first location in Old Town. "Chances are we could go broke," the owners reportedly said among themselves.

Chances R, c.1965

Chances R

Chances R Interior

The Pickle Barrel Restaurant offered a small barrel of pickles and a bowl of popcorn at every table (not peanuts, as some people get confused with "Chances R Restaurant"). A balloon artist or magician wandering around the restaurant. The Fireplace Inn restaurant and bar features charcoal-broiled ribs, steaks, and seafood.

 

The Pickle Barrel Restaurant, 1423 North Well, Old Town, 1971.

There was the Paul Bunyan restaurant with "Hot Biscuit Slim's" Bakery (home of the 12" cookie), and the Buzz Saw Bar with drinks named the Big Onion, the Blue Ox, Axman's Revenge, Tall Timber, the Log Pond, and the Ax Handle. Paul Bunyan's motto was, "We have an oversized desire to serve the best food at the most sensible prices to the greatest number of people." 

 

Restaurants included the Golden Dragon Cantonese Restaurant, the Stage Coach Restaurant, Beef & Bourbon Restaurant, and least we forget Lum's Restaurant, which was on the southwest corner of North Avenue and Wells Street.

The Exit Saloon was located at 1653 North Wells Street, on the Old Town strip, until 2007. The Exit Saloon was often confused with the Exit Chicago Club at 1315 West North Avenue, 1¼ miles west of Wells Street, boasting an under-21 club 4-10pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Man at Ease, 1706 North Wells Street, Chicago, closed in Old Town and moved to 2630 North Clark Street in 1969.

It was home to the famed Second City Theater, Uno's, Bizzare Bazaar head shop, The Fudge Pot, the Town Shop, Madge women's clothing store, Parlor Jewelry, a penny candy shop, the Wick-ed Shoppe - a candle store, the House of Lewis, and The Man at Ease a hip men's clothing store.

VISIT OUR OLD TOWN SOUVENIR SHOP

View from 1500 North Wells Street in Old Town neighborhood; Chicago, Illinois, July 3, 1970. The west side of the street includes the Fireplace Inn, the 'Wecord Woom,' Crystal Pistol, and the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum.

The Fig Leaf and Paper Dress Store.

 

The Great Old Town Movie Poster & Comic Book Company was located at 1444 North Wells Street.

The original Crate and Barrel store was on Wells Street, where they displayed the glasses and dishware in wooden barrels and crates filled with straw.

The House of Horror was a spooky, creepy place for a kid to see. I had nightmares.

House of Horrors was close to Lum's, across the street from the Emporium.

The Royal London Wax Museum (figures by Josephine Tussaud) was at 1419 N. Wells Street. It included lifelike figures of Chicagoans Ernie Banks, Hugh Hefner, Al Capone, St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and figures from the Civil War. The Chamber of Horrors featured replicas of Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein, while the fantasy room contained Pinocchio, Cinderella, Rip Van Winkle, and Alice in Wonderland. It closed in 1991.

Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum at 1500 N. Wells Street opened with a party on November 21, 1968. Reportedly, more than 500 people showed up. Visitors were greeted with an optical illusion in the lobby. A giant floating faucet seemingly suspended in mid-air, the faucet spilled out a thick and endless flow of water into a pebbly pond. It was a simple illusion. A tall, transparent pipe held the faucet in place at the nozzle, blasting water upwards that immediately gushed back down the sides covering the pipe.

Photo not from the Chicago Ripley's Believe it or Not!

The Chicago branch contained 13 galleries. It included a circus room with its various freaks and mutations and replicas of Cleopatra's barge, a man who lived to be 160 years old, and a mummified monk. The museum closed in 1987 and auctioned off its exhibits. It closed in 1987.

 

THE MUSIC SCENE

The Earl of Old Town Cafe & Pub at 1615 N. Wells Street was the fabled Club that epitomized the Chicago folk scene and honed such home-grown talent as Steve Goodman, John Prine, and Bonnie Koloc opened in 1962.

The Earl of Old Town Cafe & Pub, Circa 1962.

Earl J.J. Pionke was born and raised on Chicago's south side in 1932. After jumping between jobs to help support his family, Pionke tended bar at a few local saloons before taking aim at opening his own.

Earl J.J. Pionke, 1982

Chicago’s famed Old Town neighborhood had become the epicenter of Chicago’s emerging music scene and Earl knew there was an opportunity to join the movement and make something special. When Pionke first opened "The Earl of Old Town" in 1962, he was confident he could get people in the door. He didn't know how yet.  

The Sneak Joint, 1615½ North Wells Street, (see sign on wall) was a tiny tavern behind the Earl of Old Town, brought back to life for a few months by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd during filming of "The Blues Brothers" movie in 1979. 

A colorful and boisterous man, it was Earl’s infectious personality that helped first build the reputation of his club. As longtime Chicago folk-music mainstay Eddie Holstein recalled during Earl’s 80th Birthday Celebration, "You don’t meet Earl Pionke, you hear him coming." After inviting a few local folk singers to play at the club, the unexpected success of their performances set Pionke and The Earl of Old Town to showcase the emerging talent and their songs of the times. 

Once the spark was lit, it didn’t take long before The Earl of Old Town quickly became the hottest club in the city for emerging folk music. Famed Chicago singers and songwriters including John Prine, Bonnie Koloc, Jim Post, Steve Goodman, Fred & Eddie Holstein and many others all got their start playing to the warm audiences and bare brick walls of The Earl. For Eddie Holstein, The Earl was the perfect venue for new emerging artists. The Earl of Old Town featured live music on a nightly basis, and consistently the crowds piled in.  It was a welcoming place. The Earl was refined enough to catch your eye while still holding enough charm to make you feel at home. The intimacy of the room created an unmistakable and important sense of presence for both the audience and the performers.

“It was a listening room,” says Chicago folk veteran Chris Farrell, “you came to hear the music.” The music at The Earl thrived for years and the relationship between Earl and his performers became an atypical one. They were more family than hired talent. He more a fan than a benefactor. As quoted in the liner notes of 1970’s “Gathering at the Earl of Old Town," Pionke insists “They’re my kids, my pals, I love ‘em'.”

The Earl of Old Town closed its doors in 1982. Earl J.J. Pionke died Friday, April 26, 2013, at 80 years old.

Old Town was a mecca for the music scene. The Old Town School of Folk Music, Mother Blues, the Purple Cow, the Crystal Pistol, Quiet Knight, and the Plugged Nickel were trendy music venues.

Not too many people remember The Outhaus at 1311 North Wells Street and closed in 1968

Lincoln Park Pirates

Old Town also catered to the under-21 crowds with dance clubs; Judy's Juniors, Like Young, and My Sister's Place.

VISIT OUR OLD TOWN SOUVENIR SHOP

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The Piper's Alley Fire on March 1, 1971.

Piper's Alley, the big tourist draw in Old Town, is evacuated as fire is discovered in the loft of the Playwright's Center, a four-story building that forms the west end of the U-shaped commercial center. Two thousand spectators watch from the streets, and a hundred diners are evacuated from That Steak Joynt at 1610 Wells Street as a precaution. Firefighters say that every one of the 15 shops that make up the Alley will suffer some smoke or water damage. Fortunately, the glassblower at the entrance to the Alley remains unscathed.

The Fire at Second City Comedy Club, August 26, 2015.
On Wednesday, August 26, a fire ignited inside a grease chute above the kitchen in Adobo Grill on Wells Street in Old Town. The fire spread to the building housing The Second City, a comedy club and school of improvisation, destroying offices and memorabilia from alumni. Months after the accident, the community is still cleaning up the mess.

Firemen said all the shops on the first floor suffered smoke and water damage. The buildings were estimated to be worth $1½ to $2 million.

On top of repairing fire damage, Second City is enduring construction in part of an expansion. Building onto what used to be the Aardvark Cinematheque movie theatre in Piper's Alley, they have gutted all that and put in new stages. The expansion of Second City was massive. 

VISIT OUR OLD TOWN SOUVENIR SHOP 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Thank you, David Pfendler, Archivist for the Old Town Triangle Association, for the early history of the Old Town Triangle area.