They seemed perpetually hung over and maintained the same dingy, run-down look of the place, if not contributing to it even more.”<Īfter John Weiss’ Saloon and Katzenjammer’s, the bar was transformed into Jerry’s on Lincoln in 1982. John Weiss sold the place to a couple guys who renamed it ‘Katzenjammer Kids’ or ‘Katzenjammers’. Then he’d lumber off without an additional word. If you were sitting at a table and he wanted to get by, he would simply say ‘You haff to move.’ By the same token, he’d often lumber over to the table with the bottle of Jägermeister and an extra shot glass and simply say ‘You have to drink ziss’ and buy a round of shots for everyone as well as have one himself. John Weiss was an enormous, obese, lumbering German character who was either courtesy-impaired or language-impaired or both. We’d go there for dirt-cheap pitchers of dark beer and shots of Jägermeister. “In the 60’s this was indeed John Weiss’ saloon. A Chicago Bar Project fan describes the joint like this: Following that, the bar was owned for four decades by an old German saloon keeper named John Weiss. Joining such places as the Green Mill, Jake’s Pub and John Barleycorn’s (located kitty-corner to Halligan), the building has a connection to a gangster past in that Bugs Moran ran it as a speakeasy during Prohibition. The four-story, red-brick building housing Halligan has been a bar for over 100 years. If the place gets jammed, like it usually is on most weekends, try heading downstairs to their recently opened basement area. If there’s nothing of interest on any of the several TVs or the big screen, head to the back and have a game of cricket on thee regulation dartboard in the back, which is located on your way to the bathrooms through a urination portal in the west wall. Such tchotchkes include vintage photos of yesteryear Chicago, fire-alarm boxes, hoses, coats, nozzles, an enormous Halligan / Harp mirrored sign on the east wall, a plethora of “My Goodness, My Guinness” posters, an axe, and a Halligan above the bar (read on to find out what a Halligan is). The whole room is chock-a-bloc with firefighter memorabilia. As you walk in, the bar with its high-backed, wooden chairs and mirrored backdrop is on your right and an elevated seating area enclosed by a wooden railing is on your left, which is perfect to sit in and enjoy the breeze in summer while you watch a throng of people pass by. Halligan is one of those classic Lincoln Avenue, triangular-shaped bars. Hopefully, Halligan will have a brighter future. In its former life, Jerry’s was a place where any patron was the bartender’s best friend because there usually was no one else in there. Halligan has the nice feel of a neighborhood bar amongst sports bars and meat markets. Recently replacing Jerry’s on Lincoln, the Halligan Bar is the latest newcomer to this crowded Lincoln Park corridor where sobriety is hard to find.
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