CHAPTER 44 of THE COOLEST SPOT IN CHICAGO: A HISTORY OF GREEN MILL GARDENS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF UPTOWN PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS There’s a legend about how Steve Brend got his first job at the Green Mill. Brend, who eventually became the owner, said that he’d landed his first job at the… Continue reading The Lounge Lived On: The Green Mill After Prohibition
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The Aragon Ballroom, Dance Watchdogs, and Weird Echoes
CHAPTER 35 of THE COOLEST SPOT IN CHICAGO: A HISTORY OF GREEN MILL GARDENS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF UPTOWN PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER Just 12 days after the Uptown Theatre opened amid a burst of hoopla in August 1925, the city issued a building permit for a dance hall down the… Continue reading The Aragon Ballroom, Dance Watchdogs, and Weird Echoes
Ted Newberry, Alleged Green Mill Mob Boss
CHAPTER 34 of THE COOLEST SPOT IN CHICAGO: A HISTORY OF GREEN MILL GARDENS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF UPTOWN PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER In the Prohibition Era, a mobster summoned a Chicago Daily Tribune reporter to sit down for a meeting one afternoon inside the Green Mill. The reporter, James L.… Continue reading Ted Newberry, Alleged Green Mill Mob Boss
Capone-Adjacent Guys and Shady Land Deals
CHAPTER 31 of THE COOLEST SPOT IN CHICAGO: A HISTORY OF GREEN MILL GARDENS AND THE BEGINNINGS OF UPTOWN PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER On July 10, 1922, Catherine Hoffman found herself facing a federal lawsuit.1 The United States government said alcohol was being sold on a piece of property she owned,… Continue reading Capone-Adjacent Guys and Shady Land Deals
Chicago’s 1918 War Against Fun
Chapter 18 of The Coolest Spot in Chicago: A History of Green Mill Gardens and the Beginnings of Uptown <— PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER —> The war against fun in Chicago reached a milestone in 1918. This was the year when the city’s aldermen voted to outlaw most live music… Continue reading Chicago’s 1918 War Against Fun
A Jazzy Trial in 1917 Chicago: Who Wrote Those Blues?
Chapter 17 of The Coolest Spot in Chicago: A History of Green Mill Gardens and the Beginnings of Uptown <— PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER —> In the midst of Chicago’s jazz boom and cabaret controversies of 1917, the city played host to a curious event in the annals of legal… Continue reading A Jazzy Trial in 1917 Chicago: Who Wrote Those Blues?
Miss Patricola, the Queen of the Cabaret
Chapter 10 of The Coolest Spot in Chicago: A History of Green Mill Gardens and the Beginnings of Uptown <— PREVIOUS CHAPTER / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT CHAPTER —> When Green Mill Gardens opened in 1914, the headline entertainer was “The Queen of the Cabaret, Miss Patricola.” At that point, Isabella Patricola had already… Continue reading Miss Patricola, the Queen of the Cabaret