St Pauli Club

I am hesitant to write a review in order to prevent crowds ruinin this fabulous 4am. Love this place, Margaret is the best. Spaten on draft, cheap drinks, clean bathrooms, country juke and a 4am that is never too busy. Best 4am I have ever been to.

I've lived a block away from this joint for a year and - until last night - had operated under the (false but reasonable) assumption that it had closed its doors forever.

An old friend was in town and we wanted to grab a couple of beers and hang for a bit.  As we were walking over to another dodgy neighborhood watering hole (the stretch of Lincoln between Ainslie and Foster is loaded with them), I noticed signs of life behind the bar. We tried the door: locked. Oh well.

But before we could walk away the shadowy figure behind the bar made her way over to the front door, unlocked it, and let us inside this barely-lit gem of a bier-stube. It was all I had hoped it would be.

Spaten on draught for $3 (maybe a 300mL glass?) was a major plus. The jukebox is incredible (if you like old country and other classic sounds, such as the Stones, Bruce, Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Sam Cooke, Elton John, etc) and was ours. Actually, the entire bar was ours. For two hours. This was bliss.

Margaret, he owner/bartender is fantastic. She has lived in Chicago for half a century and can tell you all about it. I highly suggest you ask her about the city's changes.

Anyway, we stayed for $6 worth of music and maybe $12 worth of German lager. I regret nothing. On second thought, I regret my long-held assumption that this place is no longer in business. Deeply.

I shall return.

It was a fog-filled, murky night when I came upon St. Pauli's. In truth, I was searching for an alleged Romanian dance club that turned out to be a complete myth.  Why not wander up and down the street, looking for inspiration?  My pal and I wandered into St. Pauli's and the time-travel fun began.  There were about four other people in the bar, and there was one pool table.  Initially, I thought the bar was bigger, but that turned out to be the mirrors on the wall (LOVED IT!).  Margaret wasn't bartending, because she had fallen and broken one arm and one leg. But, her lovely sister was there, and I think that she was maybe five years younger:) hell, maybe she was older! Who cares!???  As soon as I heard the prices.......and once I got my hot little hands on that jukebox (NOTHING in it past about 1975), I was IN LOVE! Now: would I go here alone? No----- mostly because I don't have car and public transpo is NOT user-friendly up there.  I loaded up that jukebox with ALL of my guilty pleasures, and my friend and I got KILLED in pool by some older dudes who said I was adorable but did not do skeevy things like lick their lips or smack my ass.  

On a second visit, I took a hellish date to St. Pauli's, and he ruined all the charm. It may have been the fact that he showed up for our date with a guy pal who drove him in from the suburbs (RED FLAG NUMBER NINE).  We were the only ones in the bar besides a fabulous, mixed group of aggressive bi-sexual and lesbian ladies.  When doomed date dude began hitting on one of the ladies, I decided that not only would I NEVER go out with him again, but I would NEVER bring a date to my little dive gem.  Pool was still fun, and we still got our tails kicked by some older dudes.

I can't wait to go back, and I really hope that Margaret's joints healed up- Poor thing! This is a great place to chill with pals- no muss and no fuss!

I find it HEEEE-larious that it is listed as "St. Pauli Club" ;)