Ronny’s Steakhouse closed over Labor Day weekend in Chicago’s Loop.
It was another signal in the shift of the urban community as a result of the pandemic. At one time there were six Ronny’s steakhouses in downtown Chicago. The last one standing was on the ground floor of the Thompson Center building. Government workers came to Ronny’s. Bank tellers ate there. There were wayward tourists. The late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was a fan, most notably stopping in around 2010 when he was directing the “Long Red Road” at the nearby Goodman Theatre.
They are all ghosts in 2020.
Ronny’s was a place out of time during its time, which helped explain [...]
Sept. 19, 2011—
The guy down at the middle of the bar told his friend how he didn’t do anything this summer. I overheard it because the bar is as small as a penny in a fountain.
I asked Jackie for a bar napkin. It was interesting that in a season as compacted as summer in Chicago you can’t do anything.
Bar napkins are good for three things: wiping up junk, drying tears and aborbing thoughts. With a borrowed blue pen I jotted down some of the things I hadn’t done this summer:
Missed seeing the Cubs win much. Did not go to the historic Centennial Beach in Naperville, nor did I see Russell Crowe swim at ‘The Beach’ when he was living in the [...]
