Danny's Tavern, the small, funky dive bar in Bucktown may be closing after 26 years, DNAinfo reports. The neighborhood favorite almost always has a line pouring out onto Dickens Avenue on Friday and Saturday nights, but it's well worth the wait. It's a place where Chicagoans of all walks of life can go to fly their freak flags and get weird on a dance floor that feels more like a house party than a club.
But all of that could be coming to an end.
News of the closing first broke when a Facebook event for Thursday night titled "Clark Street Jams Danny's End" surfaced. Clark Street Jams is a monthly "open format deviation from the typical club night" at the Bucktown bar, and the party this week will be the last at the location.
DNAinfo's Wicker Park and Bucktown reporter Alisa Hauser spoke with Kevin Stacy, the manager of the bar, who blamed gentrification for Danny's demise. He said the bar has been on a month-to-month lease since a death occurred in the family who owns the building at 1951 W Dickens Ave. As it stands, the bar's owners Terry Alexander and Michael Noone are working with the landlord to find a resolution.
Without Danny's, there isn't a reliably fly dive bar to groove out in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area. Sure, there's Debonair, but that place often fills up with sleazy bros ordering bottle service. There's also Soul Summit at Double Door, but that only takes place once a month.
It looks like this writer's going to be stuck twinkling his toes at the East Room or (God forbid) The Owl on Saturday nights.