
Chicago's Influential Violet Hour Is Closed Until Further Notice
Ownership from One Off Hospitality Group, the restaurant company behind the Publican and Big Star, says they're in negotiations with the building's landlord, attempting to reach common ground over those repairs. A rep declined to say how much that would cost, only saying 'substantial' fixes are needed. Floors would need to be ripped up, and the ground dug out. The bar's furniture remains intact at 1520 N. Damen Avenue. Public records showed the owner listed as Magic Carpet LLC, which leads to Newcastle Investors. A press release shows Newcastle acquired the property in 2023.
'We're working hard to resume service and will continue to share updates as they become available, so please keep an eye on our social media pages for the latest news,' a Violet Hour statement reads. 'Thank you for your continued support — we can't wait to welcome you back, if and when the time is right.'
Violet Hour's importance extends a few layers deep. The bar's debut ushered in the age of the mixologist with sophisticated cocktails using not-so-easy-to-find ingredients. And a multitude of different types of ice. But its influence extended across the country. Chicagoans enjoyed martinis and Manhattans, but Violet Hour's bartenders showed them new drinks, introducing them to future bar staples like the Paper Plane and the Art of Choke. In 2015, the bar won the Beard for Outstanding Bar Program. The bar has made numerous local and national lists and is one of Chicago's essential bars. An arsenal of bartenders remains thankful for their time working the bar, which helped launch their careers.
The bar's arrival also marked the start of One Off's Wicker Park presence as the area rapidly gentrified. MTV brought the neighborhood attention when it brought its Real World circus to North Avenue in 2001-2002. One Off partner Terry Alexander was already an integral part of the area — he was also behind Danny's Tavern in nearby Bucktown and soon joined Paul Kahan and Donnie Madia's group. After opening Big Star, they eventually took over the neighboring space to the north and opened Dove's Luncheonette. In 2016, the group opened a spinoff of its pioneering Publican, but the restaurant struggled to find traction as the neighborhood continued to change.
An ancillary Beard event, scheduled for Sunday, June 15 — a collaboration with Portland, Oregon Beard Award finalist Scotch Lodge — will move to Friends of Friends, a new bar that Alexander opened last week with Violet Hour alum Abe Vucekovich. Alexander's familiarity with the Violet Hour spans more than two decades through MOD, a restaurant that was open from 2000 to 2005; and Del Toro, a restaurant that gave Andrew Zimmerman a chance to shine. Zimmerman would go on to open West Loop icon Sepia, a Michelin-starred restaurant.
While One Off appears to be cautiously optimistic about a reopening, a decision to shutter could echo what happened in 2020 in West Loop when the company closed Blackbird, a gastronomic trailblazer, after two decades. Fans of Blackbird didn't get a chance to have a final meal. One Off hopes Violet Hour doesn't face the same fate and gets a proper last call.
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New York Times
8 hours ago
- New York Times
Alexander Isak training at former club Real Sociedad while Newcastle future uncertain
Alexander Isak is training individually at former club Real Sociedad with his future at Newcastle United uncertain. The rest of the Newcastle first team are in South Korea as part of their pre-season plans. Isak did not travel with Eddie Howe's squad to Singapore last week after the news that he wanted to leave Newcastle. Advertisement The 25-year-old spent three years at Real Sociedad before joining Newcastle in 2022, playing 132 times. He is training alone at their Zubieta facilities while the Basque club's first team continues their preparations for the new season following their own tour of Asia. Isak's absence from Newcastle's opening pre-season friendly at Celtic on July 19 and subsequent tour to Asia was his preference amid his uncertain future, according to sources, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to do so publicly. The club, however, cited a minor thigh injury for Isak's absence. The Sweden international's existing Newcastle deal runs through to June 2028, and the north east side have been eager to retain him on an improved contract, while also seeking potential replacements in case of his departure. The Athletic reported on July 15 that Liverpool communicated their interest in signing Isak and doing a deal in the region of £120million. Newcastle's stance has consistently been that the player is not for sale. Newcastle and Liverpool were interested in Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike before the Premier League champions completed a transfer worth an initial £69m earlier this week. Howe's side then made RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko their top candidate, but Manchester United are now prioritising a move for the Slovenian. Newcastle have also been exploring a move for Brentford's Yoane Wissa after cooling their interest in Ekitike. Analysis by George Caulkin Newcastle continue to insist that Isak is not for sale and while saying the opposite would be a peculiar negotiating position, their stance is not just posturing. Their priority this summer, aside from strengthening a shallow first-team pool which will be competing in the Champions League next season, has been to keep Isak, their best player, and ideally tying him to an enhanced contract. Advertisement Very little about this close season has been ideal, however. They have struggled to sign players, they have lost three friendly matches in succession and they do not have a sporting director or chief executive in place. Isak — or people close to him — have informed Newcastle of his wish to leave. Liverpool look like his only realistic destination and have expressed their interest in buying him. As of yet, however, there has been no formal bid, which effectively means limbo. In public, the only reason given for Isak's absence from the club's pre-season tour to East Asia is a minor thigh injury. Howe has never confirmed or denied that the striker wishes to leave and has reiterated constantly that he wants to keep him. On the one hand, Isak training with Real Sociedad, his former club, looks peculiar. It has the appearance of further separation from Tyneside. Yet with Newcastle's entire first-team staff away and with a fierce spotlight on this potential transfer, it also makes sense for him to be out of it. Newcastle have not condemned Isak. They are not being punitive. They are trying to keep all avenues clear, including his future reintegration, which is their first choice. Isak has not yet said anything directly about his own position, so his hands remain clean. Everything is still to play for.


Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Gov. Pritzker needs to veto this pension bill. Chicago can't afford it.
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How will they pay for it?' The other important consideration, he said, was ensuring Chicago's first responders are 'well taken care of.' We're glad to see Pritzker explicitly state why he's mulling whether to veto despite the strange prospect of rejecting legislation that passed without a single dissenting vote. By asking rhetorically if Chicago can 'pay for it,' the governor has answered his own question. Of course Chicago can't pay for it. The police and fire pension funds have a mere 25% of the assets needed to meet their current and future obligations as it stands. Since we wrote about this measure in June, the city has estimated what it would do for its woefully underfunded first-responder funds. That percentage would drop to an almost unfathomably low 18%. To those who say it's nonsensical to veto a bill with such overwhelming support, remember that GOP lawmakers mainly went along because of the Chicago delegation's unanimous backing and the fact that only Chicagoans' taxes would be affected. All the Chicago Democrats who voted yes could justify reversing their positions by saying (truthfully) they didn't have the city's projections on just how much these changes would cost taxpayers. Chicago taxpayers already are chewing their nails wondering how the city will plug a 2026 budget deficit exceeding $1 billion. The following year looks even worse. Pritzker already tossed an $80 million hot potato in Chicago's lap with his 2023 initiative to phase out the state's 1% tax on groceries, the proceeds of which had been distributed to municipalities. More than 200 municipalities have approved their own 1% grocery taxes, as the state allows them to do. Mayor Brandon Johnson wants the City Council to do the same for Chicago, which must happen by a state-set deadline of Oct. 1. There are no guarantees, given Johnson's fraught relationship with the council and Chicagoan's understandable resistance to tax hikes of any sort, that aldermen will do as he wishes. Meanwhile, this pension time bomb would cost the city nearly as much as repeal of the grocery tax and in the future will cost far more. Speaking of the mayor, while he has spoken tepidly against this bill, he ought to be forcefully urging Pritzker to veto it and Chicago lawmakers to vote to sustain that veto, despite their earlier support of the measure. The city essentially has been missing in action on this issue, and Johnson apparently is struggling to balance his political brand as an ardent union backer with his duty to Chicago taxpayers. This is no time for such timidity. At this stage, it's worth laying out the origins of this bill. In 2010, in a bid to reform Illinois' public-sector pensions, the state created a second tier of beneficiaries hired in 2011 and thereafter — so-called Tier 2 workers — whose retirement payouts were to be substantially less than the overly generous benefits of existing employees and retirees that had gotten Illinois so deeply in pension debt. Six years ago, Pritzker signed into law sweetened pension benefits for Tier 2 cops and firefighters in Illinois outside of Chicago as part of a consolidation of downstate police and fire pension funds. Ever since, Chicago police and fire unions have argued their Tier 2 workers ought to get the same treatment. In addition, proponents cite concerns that the benefits for Tier 2 workers don't rise to the level of Social Security benefits, which would violate federal law. This page has been consistent on the issue of Tier 2 pension benefits and Social Security. State policymakers should do no more than ensure they are compliant with the law and rebuff union efforts to use the Social Security argument in effect to do away with Tier 2 and pension reform altogether. As much as we appreciate and rely on Chicago's first responders, everyone who went to work for the Police or Fire departments after 2010 knew — or should have known — what their retirement benefits were. In a perfect world, their pensions would be equivalent to those earned by their counterparts outside the city. We don't live in that world. Far from it. Mayor Johnson, you should advocate for your city's beleaguered taxpayers and call on Gov. Pritzker and Chicago's Springfield delegation to do the right thing. And, Governor, adding to Chicago's fiscal crisis hurts the whole state. Whether the mayor asks or not, veto the bill.


Politico
3 days ago
- Politico
Tech exec Liam Stanton eyes mayoral run
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But he says he's lining up some Democratic firepower behind his campaign, including operatives from former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's and former President Barack Obama's teams. Stanton also counts David Spielfogel, who worked in Emanuel's administration, as a friend. At 38, Stanton is part of a new breed of young Democrats looking to make change. 'I call myself a radical moderate,' Stanton said in the interview. Most Chicagoans are just tired of the extremes, he added. 'They want common sense.' Stanton speaks the city's cultural dialect having been raised in Rogers Park as the youngest of eight, the son of a Chicago Police officer and now living in Bowmanville with a young family of his own. But he also speaks with the fluency of someone who's helped run global strategy for large companies. The tech-exec-meets-neighborhood guy wants to boost tourism and create a better climate for small businesses. 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They wanted to 'avoid scaring' the public, by POLITICO's Corbin Hiar TRIVIA FRIDAY's ANSWER: Congrats to Joseph Morris and Michael Penicnak for correctly answering that Wabash Avenue and Calumet Avenue share their names with the Wabash River and Little Wabash River and the Calumet River and Little Calumet River, respectively. TODAY's QUESTION: Which future U.S. senator wrote for the Chicago Defender during the 1940s? Email your answer to: skapos@ HAPPY BIRTHDAY State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, governor's chief of staff Anne Caprara, former state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, former state Rep. Darlene Senger, former Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin, political and media consultant Delmarie Cobb, tech entrepreneur and former mayoral candidate Neal Sales-Griffin, education advocate and comms expert Peter Cunningham, Blue Raven Campaigns partner Joshua Kaufman, retired BMO senior bank exec Susan Payne, former White Sox exec Sam Mondry-Cohen and broadcast legend Walter Jacobson -30-