A gangster underworld chicagotribune

A gangster underworld?In tunnels below Green Mill, a maze of Prohibition-era history and mythJune 28, 2007Few people know its there -- fewer know where it leads.In the floor behind the bar at the Green Mill, a century-old jazz club in Uptown, lies a door. Beneath it: a musty labyrinth of gangster and Uptown history.The World Below -- a series of tunnels branching underground from the Green Mill to the bookstore Shake, Rattle & Read a few doors away -- mixes myth and fable, dusty boilers and blood-splattered urinals (more on this in a moment).In the mid-1910s, the Green Mill was an exclusive hangout for Essanay Studio executives and early film stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Wallace Beery. In recent decades, jazz musicians such as Clifford Jordan, Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. have graced its stage. But tales of Jazz Age Chicago, when gangsters such as "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn and boss Alphonse Capone defied Prohibition, are most prominent down below."They could either come to the tunnels and hide, or escape. Of course, the booze was stashed down here," says Ric Addy, owner of Shake, Rattle & Read. The bookstore has been in his family since 1965, which makes Addy an armchair historian and raconteur of all things Uptown.Below the Green Mill, Addy latches the heavy wooden door to the bar with a metal hook and carefully climbs down the steep stairs, ducking his head under the lip of the floor above.These musty concrete hallways and storage rooms are remnants of a tunnel system used to haul coal in the first part of the 20th Century. The Green Mill end of the tunnel provides the nightclub with its storeroom and cellar. Boxes of beer bottles and mini-pretzels wait to be summoned. Electrical wires and various pipes slink around the ceiling. Side rooms -- cubbyholes said to be the sites of gangster poker games -- hold dust-caked bar stools, stacked seat-to-seat, legs reaching for the sky.Around the corner, heading north, through an ominous steel door and down a dark hallway, Addy shines a flashlight on a doorway that, a century ago, would have read "Men."Before the massive Uptown Theatre changed the face of Broadways 4800 block in 1925, the Green Mill hosted a vast beer garden and dance hall, complete with underground restrooms. The original stone façade entrance still stands outside, though obscured by a fiberglass sign for the restaurant Fiesta Mexicana.Below, only the mens restroom survives, complete with the original, tiny octagonal tiles and porcelain urinals."Its not too hard to imagine Capone stepping up to do his business here," Addy jokes.Unlike the brightly lighted Green Mill storeroom, darkness permeates everything and temperatures drop 20 degrees. Its quiet. If any ghosts linger here, they keep to themselves. The corpses of a half-dozen water bugs lie scattered near the doorway.There is evidence of life, however. I nside one of the urinals, a violent red smear clings to the porcelain - remnant of a fake mob hit shot for the 1993 movie "Excessive Force," starring Thomas Ian Griffith and James Earl Jones.Jones and Griffith arent the only celebrities to have visited the tunnels. Over the years, Addy has given private tours to bands such as the Beastie Boys and Suicidal Tendencies who were looking for their own pieces of gangster legacy. Years ago, one room held wooden bank vaults stacked with rotting bank documents, but theyre long gone.The only paper down here now belongs to Addy, in two gigantic rail car-size rooms filled with back issues of Rolling Stone, Playboy and Esquire. Addys dusty library of pop culture doubles as his eBay store, where he packages and sends off rock posters, books and hard-to-find magazine back issues. Without lights, its still a tomb.Heading toward the door to his own store, Addy says, "It really used to creep me out down here."He adds: "It still feels haunted, kinda ghostly down here. Now its not so creepy because of all the new construction - new air conditioning units, new coolers. I just wish the tunnels would keep going, so that I could see what it was like way back when."relder@tribuneA gangster underworld?In tunnels below Green Mill, a maze of Prohibition-era history and mythJune 28, 2007Few people know its there -- fewer know where it leads. In the floor behind the bar at the Green Mill, a century-old jazz club in Uptown, lies a door. Beneath it: a musty labyrinth of gangster and Uptown history. The World Below -- a series of tunnels branching underground from the Green Mill to the bookstore Shake, Rattle & Read a few doors away -- mixes myth and fable, dusty boilers and blood-splattered urinals (more on this in a moment). In the mid-1910s, the Green Mill was an exclusive hangout for Essanay Studio executives and early film stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Wallace Beery. In recent decades, jazz musicians such as Clifford Jordan, Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. have graced its stage. But tales of Jazz Age Chicago, when gangsters such as "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn and boss Alphonse Capone defied Prohibition, are most prominent down below. "They could either come to the tunnels and hide, or escape. Of course, the booze was stashed down here," says Ric Addy, owner of Shake, Rattle & Read. The bookstore has been in his family since 1965, which makes Addy an armchair historian and raconteur of all things Uptown. Below the Green Mill, Addy latches the heavy wooden door to the bar with a metal hook and carefully climbs down the steep stairs, ducking his head under the lip of the floor above. These musty concrete hallways and storage rooms are remnants of a tunnel system used to haul coal in the first part of the 20th Century. The Green Mill end of the tunnel provides the nightclub with its storeroom and cellar. Boxes of beer bottles and mini-pretzels wait to be summoned. Electrical wires and various pipes slink around the ceiling. Side rooms -- cubbyholes said to be the sites of gangster poker games -- hold dust-caked bar stools, stacked seat-to-seat, legs reaching for the sky. Around the corner, heading north, through an ominous steel door and down a dark hallway, Addy shines a flashlight on a doorway that, a century ago, would have read "Men. "Before the massive Uptown Theatre changed the face of Broadways 4800 block in 1925, the Green Mill hosted a vast beer garden and dance hall, complete with underground restrooms. The original stone façade entrance still stands outside, though obscured by a fiberglass sign for the restaurant Fiesta Mexicana. Below, only the mens restroom survives, complete with the original, tiny octagonal tiles and porcelain urinals. "Its not too hard to imagine Capone stepping up to do his business here," Addy jokes. Unlike the brightly lighted Green Mill storeroom, darkness permeates everything and temperatures drop 20 degrees. Its quiet. If any ghosts linger here, they keep to themselves. The corpses of a half-dozen water bugs lie scattered near the doorway. There is evidence of life, however. I nside one of the urinals, a violent red smear clings to the porcelain - remnant of a fake mob hit shot for the 1993 movie "Excessive Force," starring Thomas Ian Griffith and James Earl Jones. Jones and Griffith arent the only celebrities to have visited the tunnels. Over the years, Addy has given private tours to bands such as the Beastie Boys and Suicidal Tendencies who were looking for their own pieces of gangster legacy. Years ago, one room held wooden bank vaults stacked with rotting bank documents, but theyre long gone. The only paper down here now belongs to Addy, in two gigantic rail car-size rooms filled with back issues of Rolling Stone, Playboy and Esquire. Addys dusty library of pop culture doubles as his eBay store, where he packages and sends off rock posters, books and hard-to-find magazine back issues. Without lights, its still a tomb. Heading toward the door to his own store, Addy says, "It really used to creep me out down here. "He adds: "It still feels haunted, kinda ghostly down here. Now its not so creepy because of all the new construction - new air conditioning units, new coolers. I just wish the tunnels would keep going, so that I could see what it was like way back when. "relder@tribune.

Letzten Artikel zu men video poker game

Letzte Artikel