Video Gaming in Chicago's 2nd Ward — bars, licensing, status

History

In the 1830s William B. Ogden's family owned swampy land north of the Chicago River. Ogden's decision to bring the city's first railroad there in 1848 pushed Irish factory workers northward along the river, and German and Swedish farmers and merchants settled the interior. The sandy river mouth, nicknamed the Sands, became a vice district until investors persuaded Mayor John Wentworth to clear out the squatters in 1857. George Wellington Streeter stranded a boat there in 1886 and claimed the land lay outside Illinois' jurisdiction. A court ruled the claim invalid in 1918, but the section kept the name Streeterville. The Michigan Avenue Bridge opened in 1920 and fostered a luxury shopping district on North Michigan Avenue. In Old Town, residents worried about physical deterioration formed the Old Town Triangle Association in 1948. Wells Street boomed with fashionable restaurants and stores in the 1960s, became a gathering place for hippies late in the decade, and recovered as young professionals moved in.

The area today

Ald. Brian Hopkins represents the 2nd Ward, and the City lists a City Hall office at 121 N. La Salle St., Room 300. Hopkins won a tight runoff in 2015 to succeed Bob Fioretti and was unopposed in both reelection bids that followed. When the City last redrew its ward map, the 2nd Ward moved east of the Chicago River. It now takes in parts of Streeterville, the Near North Side, the Gold Coast, Old Town and Lincoln Park. The Red Line stops at Clark/Division. Washington Square Park, at 901 N. Clark St., sits across the street from the Newberry Library. By the 1910s the park, nicknamed Bughouse Square, had become a popular spot for soapbox orators.

Bars and restaurants here

If your room is on Wells Street in Old Town, you work a popular stretch of taverns and restaurants. One set of rules is worth knowing. In October 2023 the City Council approved two ordinances introduced by Hopkins: a liquor license moratorium on Wells Street from Schiller Street to North Avenue, and a ban on additional late-hour liquor licenses across the ward. Existing license holders were grandfathered in.