Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:

> IMO pubs do have a great social benefit. I've thought about this a bit.
> Dressels Pub was a great part of my life when I lived in the West End.
The
> Dressel family are cherished friends and the pub was originally thought up
> and created as a family watering hole. It is a Welsh pub. To make it
> short, the place became a public hit. Commercialism is quietly taking
over
> the pub, which I do not like.
>
> I digress, IMO pubs impart the social setting family members may feel more
> comfortable in. I say go for it.


Visiting the corner tap here in my nabe is more than just "going out", it
plays a big part in our social lives. Most of us are busy, have different
schedules, live in small -ish apartments, etc. and this precludes a lot of
in - home entertaining. You can drop by our "Cheers" and catch up on the
latest news, meet yer friends, network, even get legal advice from the cops
and attorneys and judges that hang out there...heck my place is still so
old - fashioned they'll let a good customer run a weekly tab. And if your
drink is the last dregs of liquor poured from the bottle that is considered
a "spider" and the drink is free. The owner will soon be bringing from
Wisconsin a boatload of venison jerky (her brother is a hunter) and we'll
nosh on that all winter (it's free, hey she's smart, it makes ya
thirstier!). We have cookouts and parties all the time, and there is always
a nice huge (free) spread for Thanksgiving and Christmas day for any
"orphans" that don't have a place to go..

[As Chicago in general becomes more gentrified these types of places are
disappearing...and Da Mayor has drastically cut down (like by half) the
number of likker licenses in the city...]

Chicago is an old blue - collar town and it was formerly a "bar on every
corner" type of place (other older industrial cities e.g. Boston, Baltimore,
St. Louis, NYC, etc. were the same). Neighborhood bars provided an
important social function - it was a place to go to get out of the house,
you could get a free lunch there, get your paycheck cashed, take the growler
for a beer run, and the like. If you were in dire straits they'd pass the
hat around for you (we have had fund raisers for folks in our place even in
this modern age). In the olden daze working people had primarily two
centers of social life, their church and the corner bar...

Nobody much goes to church anymore but a local bar often can still play an
important part in the social fabric of a community...

--
Best
Greg