Tiny Tap Bar, 112½ North Clinton Street, Chicago, Illinois. (1953-1985)

George and Bob DeLeonardis owned the Tiny Tap bar for years. There will be no more lewd laughter in the Tiny Tap, Chicago's smallest bar. on a Wednesday night, they drank all the booze. The next day they dismantled the bar. After 32 years, they've lost their lease. A three-story multi-use building was built in its place. 

The Tiny Tap bar was 10-by-20-foot (200 sq. ft.) a home to millionaires and skid row drinkers across the street from the Chicago & North Western Train Station. 

When the bar was two-deep, it was packed. They closed in April 1985.

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Brothers Anthony and Dominick Adreani own the Tiny Tap (1,000 sq. ft) at 7648 West North Avenue, Elmwood Park, which opened in January 2015. They also own the Berwyn Tap Room, 6330 16th Street, Berwyn.

"Thank you so much for sharing this! I’m married to George’s daughter Terry, and I can attest that George and the Tiny Tap was as colorful as you described!"

—Don Meyer via Facebook. 8/5/2023   

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Chicago Tribune's Doomed Efforts to Fix Spelling.

In 1934, Robert McCormick, the arch-conservative (strongly adhered to traditional values) owner of the Chicago Tribune, began one of the most progressive experiments in U.S. newspaper history. He instituted a “Sane Spelling” program—words in the Tribune now had to be spelled how they were pronounced.

McCormick hoped to set an example. With “ou” pronounced differently in harsh, cough, though, through, and bough, English clearly has a spelling problem. Sure, only about a quarter of English words are spelled senselessly—but they tend to be among the words most used.

Change rarely goes over quickly, though. For instance, other people—Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevelt—had previously advocated for similar spelling programs and been thwarted. That helps explain why McCormick took it slow, introducing a small collection of newly spelled words about every month. 

Among the first newly spelled words were agast, burocracy, crum, jocky, and missil. Soon came rime, jaz, and harth. By the following year, there were more than a hundred words.

Chicago Tribune, May 06, 1934

In one issue from April 1934, you could read of a “staf ready to oppose any delay” and a story about Roosevelt “iland.” A 1938 headline exclaimed: “ROOKIE GOALIE SCORES 6TH HOCKY SHUTOUT.” Public response was “for the most part favorable,” including a letter from Benjamin Affleck, who wished the paper would go further.

In the end, “Sane Spelling” never quite caught on. By 1939, the list was trimmed to 40 words, and overall observance was never that thorough, to begin with: Reports of Pearl Harbor described an attack on an “island.”

What an atrocious idea. It appears to attack learning institutions beginning in kindergarten.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.