Bar #50: Ski's

2959 N. Hamlin

8:00pm, Wednesday, April 4

Price of Old Style: $1.50 12 oz mugs

Our 50^th Old Style Bar was a place called Ski’s.  If you go there expecting a lodge atmosphere, you’ll be quite disappointed.  This place is named Ski’s for another reason.  The great part about Ski’s is that it is a true dive bar, and a true Old Style bar.  The sign says it all!  It’s not positioned along a main street, but two blocks off of Milwaukee Avenue, just stuck in the neighborhood (similar to Millie’s and the Corner).  Walking in, my brother and I realize we’ve been to this type of bar before (Rose’s, Sunnyside Tap, Sportsmans), but for some reason, Ski’s seemed even more familiar to me.  The wood paneling on the walls, the lone pool table, and a few cheap liquor bottles behind the bar…this was my grandparent’s basement, reincarnated.  Until I was around 10 years old, my grandparents lived in a small house in Harvey, IL.  It wasn’t much, but my grandpa had his own bar in the basement.  Even back then I thought it was cool, and vowed to have my own basement-bar someday (still hasn’t happened yet).  The grandkids weren’t allowed to use the cue sticks while playing pool, for fear that we would ruin the green felt top.  We had to roll the cue ball with our hands, and this is how I “shot” pool until I was in high school.

Ski’s was a little different from Bob’s Place (a.k.a. Grandpa’s basement).  He didn’t have Old Style or Okocim on tap (which were the only draft options), and his TV wasn’t on a Polish channel.  I’m pretty sure we were watching the Polish version of “How I Met Your Mother”, except their Robin was a lot hotter and blond.  The bartender was a sweet old lady who reminded me of my grandmother, but spent most of our time there in the back room talking to her husband (who did not remind me of my grandfather).  There were two other old guys at the bar, both paying attention to the TV and the bottom of their glass.  I am assuming that with it's proximity to Logan Square, this place may get a little crowded on the weekends, but tonight we were reminded of the past, and I almost wished we were asked to not use the cue sticks.

Bar #47: Mr. ZJ's Inc. (Podhale)

2924 N. Central Park
7:30pm, Thursday, February 4
Price of Old Style: $1.50 drafts

For some reason I thought this bar was called Podlasie, but that place is actually next door.  As we pulled up, we didn't see any sign other than Old Style and Okocim.

Then we get this gem on the window:
















So, Podhale is the southernmots region of Poland, which actually includes the town of Zakopane, but that wasn't what caught our eye.  "Mr. ZJ"?  Who was that?  The running joke for the next 10 minutes was "if you don't know Mr. ZJ, you can't afford it..."  If you have no idea what I am talking about, shame on you, and here you go.

Inside, we were greeted by a wonderfully nice bartender who spoke very broken English, but attempted to have full conversations with us, mainly about the horrible weather Poland had been getting this winter.  After 15 minutes, she turned the TV to the Polish news channel, and something bad must have happened, because everyone (the other three people) were fixated on the TV.  We finished our 2nd beer and snuck out.

Bar #44: J&L Bar

3402 N. Cicero Ave.
8:00pm, Wednesday, January 11
Price of Old Style: $1.50 mugs

J&L, the bar with an identity problem...  On the outside awning, it says G&L, but inside above the bar it says J&L.  So which is it?  A quick scan of the billiards trophies tells us it's J&L, but what gives?  I ask the bartender and she says, "The owner is right there, you can ask him..."  I look down the bar and this 80 year-old man starts talking to me in Polish.  I smile and look back to the bartender and she says, "I think he changed his mind on the bar's name after the sign was already made.  It's named after family members, so maybe he didn't want to leave anyone out."  A likely story, but I think either the awning company screwed it up or the owner accidentally put a "G" instead of a "J" when he filled out the order.

Anyway, about the bar...it's a good size place, and advertises "FREE POOL EVERYDAY".  This area is a mecca for pool players (more about this later), and J&L had taken home a few trophies over the years.  The decoration is "Wisconsin Basement" meets "90's living room", with wood paneling on the walls, except for one wall which is all pink.  The bar top also had this weird mauve color going on...not very manly and very dated (like most Old Style bars).  Overall, not a bad little place on a real sketchy stretch of North Cicero.

Bar #42: Ola's Liquors

9:30pm, Thursday, October 25
947 N. Damen
Price of Old Style: $1.75 drafts

Ola's is another "slashie" and is located in Ukrainian Village, which has the highest concentration of Old Style bars in the city.  Its "Zimne Piwo" Old Style sign is easily hidden among the trees and condos along this busy stretch of Damen, with "Ola's Liquors" barely visible on an old, brown awning.

On this particular Thursday there was a pretty decent crowd, but it was tame because Anna was behind the bar, not Agnes, who is known to have made grown men cry.  All was not lost, because the group of three guys next to us were trying to see if Anna could tell which one of them was gay, and then proceeded to tell her a story about a friend who loved dry-humping more than sex.  Yes, apparently when this guy was in the mood, he would excuse himself, go to his room, put on some Umbro soccer shorts and just go to town on you.  Um...

So anyway, this place is also a liquor store, with all the bottles nicely placed behind the bar.  I was also impressed with the range of sizes of each type of liquor (1.75ml, 750ml, pints) and also this party in a bottle (man, it's awful):

Bar #25: Maria's Tap

5357 W. Belmont Ave.

9:00pm, Thursday, August 4

Price of Old Style: $1.00 12oz mugs (Tues & Thurs only)

As we were heading down Belmont towards Harlem Ave., we see it out of the corner of our eye: ANOTHER OLD STYLE BAR! And one that was definitely not on our radar--what neighborhood were we in? I did some research and it's in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood...I have lived in Chicago 12 years and have never heard of it.

We walk in, and the bartender is talking on the phone to someone (in Polish, of course :) ). She sees us, puts down the phone, gets our Old Styles and gets right back on the phone. There are 3 other regulars in the bar, just hanging out, not speaking to anyone. There is one older gentleman at the end of the bar who looks like he's either sleeping or dead (I apologize for no picture - I was a little nervous of the man sitting on my left). Anyway, we drink our beer, wave goodbye to the bartender and leave. Not sure the 3 guys at the bar even noticed we were there...