UPDATE: 'Gentrification' Claims Legendary Bucktown Tavern Danny's
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 3, 2015 10:25PM
Another one bites the dust.
Danny's Tavern, a longtime Bucktown staple, has announced they are closing. News leaked out over Facebook Monday night, and longtime manager Kevin Stacy confirmed to DNAinfo the bar was closing its doors at the end of the month, saying, "It's not about needing to raise money; it's a question of landlord and gentrification."
I've been going to Danny's since 1995 and back then it was a literal house party, with both levels of the establishment open and a full kitchen on the second floor. One of the bathrooms even had a bathtub. The bar had more of a punk rock vibe at the time, but it was also known as a place people would go to dance. It was also the first Chicago venue I ever DJed at, and it was the mixture or rock, electronic dance music and soul that drew me to the room at the time.
Danny's closed during the late '90s for a renovation and reopened with even more of a focus on straightforward dance music, drawing from genres from around the world and through numerous eras. Since then it has remained the one stalwart in Bucktown and Wicker Park where people could depend on the dance floor being full, often with lines down the block on weekend nights. But the vibe always managed to remain laid back, and the attitude most other dance clubs attracted has always seemed absent at Danny's.
Over the years the turntables at Danny's have seen a long line of both emerging and established talents taking advantage of the room anything goes dance aesthetic, and with the bar's close we move one step closer to that approach growing extinct.
Updated 4:48 p.m.: The Reader also spoke to Stacy, who clarified, "We’ve been served eviction papers from landlords of the building ... It’s not a done deal yet but it’s getting close. It’s a distinct possibility." Stacy also said that Danny's owns the liquor license so another bar would not be able to simply move in.
So it appears that while the end may be nigh for Danny's the business is still hoping to find an agreement that staves off the bar's demise. Stacy summed it up to The Reader, saying, "I'm hoping to hear that the lawyers work something out that keeps us open. That’s really basically it. I haven't given up hope."