Rumors of Marie's Riptide Lounge Owner's Passing Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 8, 2011 7:00PM

We began receiving tweets and e-mails last night stating that Maria Wuczynski, owner of Marie's Riptide Lounge, passed away Sunday night. Seeing as how we haven't seen an obituary for Wuczynski in the papers (and given Marie's status as one of the most popular 4 a.m. bars in town), we decided to place a call to the bar for confirmation.

"She's not dead," Maria's manager Anna Leon said. "You're like the 60th or 70th person to call and ask that." Leon said that she read the news of Wuczynski's passing from Chicago Bar Project's Sean Parnell. Leon said she would have corrected Parnell, but Marie's wi-fi is down right now.

"If Marie did die, the first ones to know would be the customers," Leon said.