Last Call for Chicago's Bars

Here's an interesting trend: Alcohol consumption is declining in America, apparently because Baby Boomers are swearing it off. In the early 1980s, consumption of beer, wine and spirits peaked at 2.76 gallons per person over age 15. Today, it's at 2.20. What does this have to do with cities? It may be a big reason for the disappearance of neighborhood taverns.

Take Chicago, where generations of workers have stopped off for a beer or a shot of whiskey on the way home. In 1915, there was a saloon for every 355 people in the city and, in some neighborhoods, one for every 50 men. Historians figure that, in the late 19th century, half the city's total population entered a saloon every day. "The neighborhood bar used to be the country club of the community," one bar owner said. Not any more. In the past century, the number of bars in Chicago has declined from 7,600 to just over 1,300.

So what's killing the bars of Chicago? Well, check the decline in alcohol consumption above. (The big decline has been in spirits, off more than 40 percent per capita since the mid-1970s. Beer consumption has declined somewhat; wine drinking has held steady.) In short, business isn't good.

But there are other reasons. Saloons used to be more important to socializing than they are now. They were places men went to watch a baseball game or meet buddies. Now, people can watch wide-screen TV at home and chat with their friends on the Internet. As a result, some friendly neighborhood taverns have degenerated into joints for drug-dealing and prostitution. And even where saloons haven't declined, neighbors may not be as open as they once were to tipsy people wandering in and out of corner bars at midnight. Gentrification has been tough on beer joints.

The political climate has changed, as well. Mayor Richard Daley has led several crackdowns on raucous bars. Now, he wants to give neighborhood groups new powers to shut down undesirable establishments. For years, individual precincts have been able to vote themselves "dry," which meant closing all neighborhood tavern and liquor stores. Daley is now proposing an ordinance that would allow groups to take on individual saloons. Under his proposal, if these places are challenged by residents, they have to prove they aren't harming the neighbors.

Why so hard on the bars? Daley thinks saloons and liquor stores can be good for a neighborhood or bad — and he wants the bad ones gone. "A good liquor store can be a worthwhile part of a commercial strip," the mayor said in announcing his proposal. "But a bad liquor establishment can destroy the quality of life. If a business is having an adverse effect on quality of life, then it should shape up or shut down."