We all knew it was coming so this was no surprise. The Top Hat on Morse Avneue closed yesterday. I'm glad I got to go in this week and have a couple of drinks with a friend before the door closed for good. I'll miss the Top Hat.
And I know others who will miss it too. I also know other's who won't.
Most white folks didn't like the place because it was a working class bar for the black's. You either loved the place, or you didn't. Just like most of Rogers Park at the moment - this was a very polarizing - the place we called the Top Hat.
BLOGNOTES: Just because every-time Joe Moore 'green light's' a project, the light always gets stuck on red. I'll be keeping a closer-than-usual eye on how long it takes this developer to actually build something.
10 comments:
My comments from last week about this:
There’s never been a question about Soo Liquors and the management’s perpetual unwillingness to act like a good neighbor. Street people are well served by the store’s policy and brisk business in single cans of beer and quickie booze bottles meant for immediate consumption. The place is also infamous for being a refuge for gang bangers seeking shelter to get warm in the winter and to cool off during the summer heat. The bad guys also use the store to duck out of sight of passing police patrols – it is not unusual to see them inside counting fat wads of cash or organizing their baggies of “product.”
However, I'm truly stumped as to why the Top Hat bar, a few doors east on Morse Avenue, gets thrown in with Soo Liquors when there's talk about liquor license holders that hurt rather than contribute to our neighborhood's quality of life.
When the developer’s plan for the Top Hat site came up last year, our Police Commander Bruce Rottner confirmed that the bar has no record of trouble with the police. Regular patrons know that the bar’s management 1) has on-site security, 2) provides no safe haven for gangbangers, and 3) enforces a 25-years or older requirement by always asking for a picture ID.
Rather than causing trouble, the bar’s racially integrated, but mostly Black, middle-age patrons are peaceful and uninvolved in the corrosive street action outside. As a local business on Morse Avenue The Top Hat stands in sharp contrast to Soo Liquors.
I know that raising this point about the Top Hat is moot now since it is slated for demolition. However, it seems to me that someone needs to set the record straight about the social value the Top Hat has had to a large segment of our community for so many years.
""Most white folks didn't like the place because it was a working class bar for the black's.""
What an outrageous, pretentious and racist statement. I don't know 1 white person who objects to any bar that caters to the black working class. Have you been to Ollies at Berwyn and Winthrop, this is the apex of such a bar on the north side. It is a sweet blend of all races, and Miss Ollie has welcomed everyone, to evenings of conversation and stepping music.
You write a blog, yes but who made you the voice of "race reason." I have never seen any of your white writers ever make such a racist statement.
Since I am not one of your darlings, I am sure you'll putz me right off, but I have to say shame on you for such a racist and careless statement. This is how neighborhood battles start, someone write vicious gossip like your statement.
Craig got a few screws knocked loose when he took that tumble in Tennessee...Now he's Westgard's gopher and he's openly admitting the racism in the neighborhood....
Or maybe it was the corn mash...
Dorothy. Obviously, you have A LOT to learn about racism. Sorry to pop the bubble, but it actually exists and is live and well - but thankfully challenged - everywhere, including here in Rogers Park. We like to sing and shout about how much we celebrate diversity here, but there's another side of Rogers Park we don't discuss. There is no question that prejudice and other wrong-headed notions factored into what some people believed about the Top Hat.
Finally, you talked about what your white friends believe. OK, fine. Now, go talk to Black friends you certainly have and ask them what they think about our community. Craig calls it like he sees it. In this instance, I agree with what he said.
Dorothy's knee-jerk reaction is very similar to those tactics the Joe Moore campaign used.
When someone wants to discuss serious race issues, one is labeled a racist.
Like I said, Moore has really polarized this ward unlike no other person. Nathan must be real proud of his father.
I agree with Michael and Craig -- racism exists and Rogers Park has never been immune from it. I still remember someone named "Rogers Parker" who regularly posted racist garbage targeting African-Americans in the Chicago Reader personals section before they stopped printing his rants. Rogers Park has a lot to be proud of in terms of diversity, but unfortunately, the racism co-exists next to it, and is often sweeped under the rug. The fact that it does exist should not be shied away from or worst yet, ignored.
Boxing Tomboy, thanks for your comments on race. As we've seen even mentioning the issue is like an alarm bell: troops assemble, accuse and name-call, fight, and cry foul while defending one viewpoint or another. Next to politics in our community, is there a hotter or more controversial topic? The taboo against airing our dirty laundry on race relations (and class too) is monumental. Since our community suffers from so many problems, some think it's easier to sweep this one under the rug and just tout our wonderful diversity. Then there are those who don’t see a problem here at all, and I accept that they honestly believe that.
Well, we ignore race at our peril. Among many glaring symptoms of the problem is the lack of involvement in community leadership, in decisionmaking, and in our local institutions by residents from our large Black and Latino communities. Really, there are only a handful of hard working token representatives. Think of the positive impact of more People of Color being involved in addressing crime, housing conditions, schools, youth or any of the issues we comment about on this blog. As a community we strive for improvement, yet many are left out of the equation. Most people hurt by these issues are even missing from our blog discussions.
Yet, many of us - people of all racial backgrounds - are eager to make progress on interracial understanding and acceptance. (I’d be happy if we could ban use of the politically correct and loathsome word "tolerance."). In my wildest dreams, I imagine that residents, maybe led by some local institution, take a stab at real dialogue about race. I imagine that we devise measures (OK, even a staffed and funded program) to attract, recruit, and support involvement in both the dialogue and in tangible solutions.
""When someone wants to discuss serious race issues, one is labeled a racist.""
No, no, you were making a personal opinion, "Most white folks didn't like the place because it was a working class bar for the black's." is an opinion. If not, I would sure like to hear your basis for such a grand statement.
And to bring JoMo into it, weak.
And Mike please stop with making the statement "Most white folks didn't like the place because it was a working class bar for the black's" into some political dialog.
Apparently you two know a lot of white racist who feel this way, I say if you want to make your opinion into a politcal cause hey "out" them on this web, start writing their names here, especially as upset as it makes you, sad.
The only statement I was referring to was the working class bar statement. I am naive to the racism that runs rampant in RP not for gang activity, but for black working class bars, which the only thing I was referring to. I get back a manifesto on RP race relations.
C'mon boys meet down at Ollies, we'll show you a real black working class bar.
As always, your pain in the as dorothyparker007
So what, none of the other watering holes want you around anymore?
go find another one to go to and get over it you drunk.
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