November 20, 2011

Tied Houses & Min-breweries

A 'Direct Marketing' Method
to Sell Beer
'A tied house was a type of saloon that originated in merry old England, but gained infamy in pre-prohibition America. An institution that was believed to promote intemperance, tied houses were one of many factors leading to national prohibition in 1919. A number of former tied houses remain in Chicago, long after the practice has been declared illegal. Most of the remaining buildings in Chicago were tied to the Milwaukee-based Schlitz Brewery.
In 1922 [during the Prohibition area] federal laws banned brewers from owning taverns.' 
- Forgotten Chicago
 Ironically, the event which led to tied houses in Chicago came from an attempt at reforming liquor sales. In 1884, license fees to operate a saloon in the city were steeply raised in order to squeeze out lower class dives [dive bars]. Instead of going out of business, many saloon owners who could not afford the fee turned to breweries for financial assistance. The brewery would supply all the necessary accouterments to run a saloon. In exchange, the saloon keeper would be compelled to sell only that supporting brewery’s beer. This marketing strategy worked. 
Brewing companies soon realized that tied houses were a very profitable way to dump their product on the [thirsty] population. During the 1890’s, the number of saloons in Chicago increased dramatically. This led to increased competition and price wars among breweries. However, the cutthroat competition among the breweries had an adverse effect on its' customers, and served to tarnish the respectability the industry had achieved during the 1870’s. To quote the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois; “pressure was exerted on retailers to maximize sales without regard to the well-being of customers or the general public. 
 
1910 postcard - Chuckman Collection
The Schlitz brewing company of Milwaukee was the most prolific builder of tied houses in Chicago. These buildings were designed by the architectural firm of Frohmann & Jebsen, Schlitz tied houses are generally executed in a revival style such as Queen Anne or Baroque with varying levels of accuracy and detail. One common factor in most Schlitz tied houses are the distinctive globes encircled by a belt, as if Schlitz had a stranglehold on the world. Another common feature is the alternating red and cream face brick which can be found in different patterns. - text from Forgotten Chicago

According to Chicago Patterns an 'independent shopkeeper or saloonkeeper, the brewing companies possessed substantially larger budgets for acquiring prime real estate and to build high-quality buildings. In the hands of brewers, the common “store and flat” building was elevated through well-designed architecture to attract customers and to promote the brewer’s brand. The possibility also cannot be excluded that brewers employed attractive, and sometimes cheerfully picturesque, architecture to deflect criticism from their “dry” opponents who saw the saloon as a moral threat.'

photo - Art Van Persie 
photo - Chris Cullen via Pictures of Chicago-Facebook
photo - Southport Corridor News & Events
photo - their website
with their bowling lanes
photo - Southport Corridor News & Events-Facebook
photo - Southport Lanes-Twitter
above photos - Chicago Architecture Blog with history 
Located in a former Schlitz-owned pub, this Lake View bowling alley clings to a simpler time when a malfunctioning machine was never in danger of ruining a perfect game. Before the mechanical pinsetter was invented in the 1930's, alleys were staffed by teams of pin boys who manually reset pins and returned balls to players. Southport Lanes is one of the few places left that carries on this old-fashioned (and somewhat dangerous) tradition, employing a pair of individuals who work behind the scenes, dodging balls, picking up pins and keeping games running smoothly in return for rolled bills stuffed into a ball’s finger holes.' 
'The Last Remains of Old Chicago’ - Time Out Chicago
before that is was called ...
Leo's Southport Lanes by 1961
1980's photo via Southport Corridor & News
Those Pin Boys
mostly high schoolers in the early days
photos- Ebay






 The Transition from Leo's 
to new Owners in 1991
Transition Complete 
later that year
below a 2015 photo - Redeye
Will it be a bowling alley ever again??
(video)
 Closing in 2020

The  Final Decision in July 2021
after a possibility of surviving the pandemic
July 2021
Everything Go's
photo - Southport Corridor News & Events

below photo - Pat Dailey
photo below - Southport Corridor & News
sold and hauled away to the lucky buyer
In October 2021
The Building Remains
Restaurants more in
photo & text- Southport Corridor News & Events
Another Tied House 
on Southport ...
2014 photo - Consequence
3 photos above - Chicago Pattens
Schubas Tavern is one of these Schlitz masterpieces and is in superb condition thanks to the 1988 renovation by the current owners. Oddly enough, another lies only two blocks north by the name of Southport Lanes & Billiards, and two more can be found further south: Floyd’s Pub (Bucktown), and Mac’s American Pub (Ukrainian Village). Chris and Mike Schuba opened the bar in 1989, replacing a bar called “Gaspars” that operated as the 'Bavarian Inn' before that. Chris used to own the defunct Everleigh Club (now the Tonic Room), which was named after the nation’s most well-known bordello that was located in Chicago in the early 1900's. Schubas is decorated with two-toned, herringbone-patterned brickwork, and is topped off with two terra cotta bass relief “Schlitz” globes (as also found on Schlitz bottles). It is believed that the Schlitz logo was derived from an exhibition piece created by Richard Bock for the World’s Colombian Exhibition held in Chicago in the 1893. Have no fear – even though Schlitz sold all of their bar holdings, Schubas still sells it in bottles. - Chicago Bar Project
Photos from Chicago History Podcast
When it was called
Gaspers
1975-1988
'Dean Karabatsos’s father bought the building many years ago, when Dean was a kid. “I’ll never forget my first look at the place,” Karabatsos says. “There were motorcycles lined up from Southport halfway down the block on Belmont. We were saying, ‘Jeez, what are we getting into, a Hell’s Angels bar?’ But it was a national motorcycle club that had its local monthly meeting at the place, which was called the Old Bavarian Inn.' - Chicago Reader
from 1993- March 2020
the stage in 2009 
romancandlemusic via Flickr
 a performance
via Urban Matter
and then became
Tied House
above photo - TimeOut Chicago
below photo -Harmony Grill

 2018 renderings - Southport Corridor News & Events
below photo by Joshua Millen 
via Southport Corridor News and Events
The Beginning of the End 
for this type of Liquor Marketing in 1934
The Mega Brewery of Old Lake View:
The Philip Best Brewery & Company
 1891-1961 
years in Chicago
1301-29 W Fletcher Street
photos - Bob O Walesa
 a cannery and brewer - Ebay
a label - Ebay
1894 Sanborn Fire Map
1923 Sanborn Fire Map
that highlights the defunct Evanston Branch of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad tracks
4 images - Ebay
all photos - Bob O Walesa


The Restoration 
of the Building in 1987 
photo - Forgotten Chicago
embedded in the renovated building
 photos - Forgotten Chicago


This building is listed in the National Registry 
of Historical Places as of 1987   

image above - Domu.com
 imagine house & wagon picking up product in this space
photos - Bob O Walesa

Craft & Micro Brewers
of Lake View
The only true difference between a craft brewery and a microbrewery is the volume of beer produced. Many microbreweries produce craft beer, but to be considered a craft brewery they would still have to meet craft brewing standards.

The beer, the people, and the purpose of the brewery itself define a craft brewery, rather than merely a measure of size and distribution; while a microbrewery is defined solely by the quantity of beer it produces each year.

A microbrewery is best compared to a macro brewery, for both the terms differentiate the breweries based on production amount. Craft beer on the other hand is a product, not a measure of size. The misconception occurs when some beer drinkers assume because a microbrewery is small in size they are using craft ingredients, which as we have just shown is not always the case. - Craft Beer Club

 Goose Island Wrigleyville Brewpub

1998-2015 & once at 3535 N Clark Street

"Goose Island Wrigleyville has been on a month to month lease with Midway Holdings, our landlord, since February, 2014," Hall said. "Midway Holdings owns a large collection of properties, including the Goose Island location on Clark Street, across Addison Street from Wrigley Field and has been working on a redevelopment plan for the past 2-3 years. That is the reason for the closing, the landlord would not guarantee that the lease would not be terminated before October 2015, the end of the 2015 baseball season."

The Addison & Clark (Addison Park on Clark) planned development has been in the works for years, and developers made several changes to the plan before the city approved it last October. The $140 million development will bring an 8-story mixed-used building with 148 rental units, nearly 170,000 square feet of retail and 493 parking spaces to Clark Street south of Addison.

photos - their Facebook page

3155 N Broadway
established in 2012
photos - their Facebook page 
Moving in 
The Micro Brewing Process
the food is ready!!

DryHops Brewer expanded 
to Southport Avenue with 
"The stakes are a little high" after two years of success in East Lakeview, said owner Greg Shuff, who previously said he wants the two spots to "stand on their own." While DryHop has focused on American IPAs, Corridor will specialize in Belgian and farmhouse beer, which has a "very specific, unique flavor profile," he said. The eatery will also have menus expertly crafted to pair perfectly 
with the brews, he said. - 2015 DNAinfo articlephoto - Chicago Eatery & DNAinfo
of Uncommon Ground
3800 N Clark Street
established in 1991
photos - their Facebook page
on Broadway in Lake View
3827 N Broadway
established in 2021

Post Notes:

Northside Micro-Breweries 

The Hop Review 2016

Andersonville Brewing 5402 N. Clark St.
in Andersonville
Aquanaut Brewing 5435 N. Wolcott Ave. 
in Bowmanville
Band of Bohemia 4710 N. Ravenswood Ave.
in Ravenswood area
Begyle Brewing Co. 1800 W. Cuyler St.
in North Center
Burnt City Brewing 2747 N. Lincoln Ave.
in Lincoln Park
Corridor Brewery & Provisions 3446 N. Southport Ave. 
in Lake View
Dovetail Brewery 1800 W. Belle Plaine Ave. 
in North Center
DryHop Brewers 3155 N. Broadway 
in Lake View
Empirical Brewery 1801 W. Foster Ave. 
in Ravenswood area
Greenstar Brewing Co. 3800 N. Clark St.
in Lake View
Half Acre Beer Co. Taproom 4257 N. Lincoln Ave. 
in North Center
Half Acre Beer Co. 2050 W. Balmoral Ave. 
in Bowmanville
Metropolitan Brewing 5121 N. Ravenswood Ave.
in Ravenswood area
Spiteful Brewing 1815 W. Berteau Ave.
in North Center

Check out more Tied Houses in the Chicago 


Important Note:
These posts are exclusively used for educational purposes. I do not wish to gain monetary profit from this blog nor should anyone else without permission for the original source - thanks!