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O'Rourke's stars like Jay Robert Nash, the prolific crime writer, commanded an audience. As a general rule, most of the people in the bar were having a good time. Michaela Tuohy, "Mike," accounted for that by the practice of "recovery drinking," which you did until your act was together enough to be taken onstage at O'Rourke's. To my amazement, he was lucid and didn't seem hung over.įew of the regulars often seemed hung over, although many must have been on some mornings. He was scheduled to appear the following morning on the Phil Donahue Show. Royko appeared one night after midnight, being supported by two volunteers, his trench coat a shambles. During a disagreement with Tom Fitzpatrick, the Pulitzer- winning columnist, he and Fitz pelted each other with shot glasses. Nelson had an unrequited crush on Jeanette Sullivan, the Japanese-American co-owner, and was pleasant enough but didn't come primarily to hang out with the crowd. Yes, you might, but it was not always a good night. Steinberg said he'd heard that on a good night you might see Mike Royko, Studs Terkel and Nelson Algren there all at the same time. And folk singers from the Earl of Old Town. Actors had always been part of the mix, many of them from the nearby Second City. Jay Kovar, the manager from day one, the co-owner in later years, received a loan from the actor Brian Dennehy to finance the move. It was driven west by rising real estate prices, the victim of the urbanization it represented. There were maybe a hundred members of the "O'Rourke's Crowd," perhaps fifty or sixty of them lasting the whole duration at that address and many following the bar when it moved to Halsted Street, across from the Steppenwolf Theater.
#RICARDO'S RESTAURANT RUSH STR CHICAGO LICENSE#
The Ale House had a late-night license and was for after O'Rourke's. Riccardo's, equidistant from the four daily newspapers, was for after work.
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The triangle got its name, it was said, because newspaper reporters crashed there and were never seen again. He had heard that the Front Page era in Chicago had a rebirth in the 1970s, centring around O'Rourke's Pub and the two other nightly stops in the "Bermuda Triangle," Riccardo's and the Old Town Ale House. Neil Steinberg, a younger columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, invited me out to lunch one day to complain that he had missed out on all the fun. Jay Kovar and Jeanette Sullivan behind the bar