The writer Nelson Algren used to drink in the apartment where I grew up, joining other writers and pals of my parents in regular gatherings, filling the living room with conversations, cigarette and cigar smoke and the clinking of ice against cocktail glasses.
I certainly did not know it then but I have since come to know that when Algren drank he did not drink with the desperate and dangerous enthusiasm as did many of the great writers we associate with booze. He was a great writer too, though his output was not as substantial as it might have been.
So do not assume that an upcoming three-day event taking place at three notable Chicago taverns has anything to do with Algren’s fondness for alcohol. Rather, the venues represent his affection for saloons and the people in them. He was of a time when taverns were essential parts of most any neighborhood, offering comfort from life’s storms. As he wrote, “Between (streetcar) stops stretch the streets where the shadow of the tavern and the shadow of the church form a dark and double-walled dead end.”
Algren has been gone from Chicago since leaving in 1975 and gone from life since dying in 1981 from a heart attack in Sag Harbor on Long Island. But he remains vibrantly alive in his own books, a pair of movies, a museum, books written about him and various events.
I asked a former Tribune colleague, journalist Mary Wisniewski, about Algren’s relationship with booze. She is the author of the terrific 2016 biography “Algren: A Life” and she told me, “Few of Algren’s friends thought that he was an alcoholic, though he did sometimes drink too much. There was more of a culture of drinking among writers and artists in the mid-20th century than there is now. Some of his attraction to bars was just loneliness — he wanted to be out with other people, where things were happening. It was more fun to be drinking in a Chicago tavern with friends than alone with his typewriter, especially as his work became harder to sell.”
Now that that’s settled, let me steer you to the upcoming weekend of tavern hopping in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the publication of Algren’s masterpiece, “Chicago: City on the Make.”
This is the creation of two of the most ardent and knowledgeable fans of Algren. They are writers and friends. Both are smart and lively. Paul Durica is director of exhibitions at the Chicago History Museum and operates tours and events as the creator of Pocket Guide to Hell. Bill Savage is a professor at Northwestern University and teaches courses on Chicago history, literature and culture, with an emphasis on Algren.
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“I think we came up with this idea over beers at Miller’s Pub,” Durica said. “We both believe that there is a continued relevance to the book. And this event is yet another way to make sure Algren is remembered.”
At each stop Durica and Savage (and others) will read selections from “City” as well as provide historical and biographical information.
“One main point of comparison with ‘City’ is (Carl) Sandburg’s poem ‘Chicago,” Savage said. “Both are dated, yes, and we are no longer ‘hog butcher for the world’ but Sandburg and Algren captured elements that still exist. The city of ‘the hustler and the square’ is what we remain and Nelson’s language remains so powerful.”
There will be music and other surprises. Tickets are, quite reasonably, $5 to $20. Cash bar.
The event begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Bernice’s Tavern, a venerable neighborhood tavern with deep roots at 3238 S. Halsted St. As a boy, Algren lived on the South Side and idolized the White Sox. He used the team’s Black Sox scandal of 1919 to make some vivid observations on corruption in “City.”
At 1 p.m. Saturday, it moves to the Old Town Ale House, 209 W. North Ave. A place that the late Roger Ebert called “the best bar in the world that I know about,” and where Algren frequently drank, it is filled with the muscular paintings of longtime fixture, writer and storyteller Bruce Elliott. His Algren portrait is one of the biggest paintings on the walls.
The final stop comes at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave. This is the largest of the places. It even has a stage and so it will be the busiest, with more than a few readers, including journalist Lester Munson, beer historian Liz Garibay, teacher and one of the Hideout’s former owners Tim Tuten, poet Gregorio Gomez Aguayo, writer Dmitry Samarov, and radio host Mario Smith. A limited edition poster by Ethan D’Ercole will be for sale.
You will learn that Algren lived for some time just to the west at 1523 W. Wabansia Ave. That building where he once wooed French writer and feminist Simone de Beauvoir is no longer there, razed long ago to make way for the northbound lanes of the Kennedy Expressway.
Savage also will bring the Holiday magazine in which portions of “City” first appeared and other items from his vast Algren collection.
There are some who plan to partake in all three days, others who will be dropping in for one night only. A few plan to extend the Algren celebrations next Saturday by driving to the Nelson Algren Museum of Miller Beach in Indiana to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 50th anniversary edition of “City” (an edition annotated by teacher David Schmittgens and Savage) with museum board members Dick Bales and Wisniewski.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that for the three-day tavern tour, the local brewery Hop Butcher for the World has crafted four beers inspired by “City on the Make.” Cheers.
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