Sad day for Chicago
It’s a sad day for Chicago… though I’ve only been there a handful of times, there’s somehting about the ambience, the jacketed waiters who have worked there for three decades, the heavy wood interior and fantastic food and character of the place that connect modern-day Chicago to its roots, its history, the presence of which is a big part of what makes the City distinguishable from any other urban jungle you might find out there. And, sadly, it’s not going to be around much longer.
Chicago will lose another commercial and cultural icon when the 107-year-old Berghoff Restaurant, a Loop landmark, serves its last schnitzel on Feb. 28.
Herman Berghoff, the 70-year-old grandson of the restaurant’s founder, and his wife, Jan Berghoff, 68, are retiring. Herman Berghoff, who’s been working at the German-style restaurant since 1952, owns the building at 17 W. Adams St. and will lease it to his daughter Carlyn Berghoff’s catering company.
She plans to reopen the bar this spring under a slightly different name but convert the elegant dining room to a private banquet hall, thus ending the reign of one of Chicago’s oldest and most fattening restaurants.
“It’s hard to believe,” said Rich Melman, head of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, a Chicago-based restaurant company, who recalls first eating at The Berghoff 45 years ago. “I feel such a personal loss for Chicago. It’s like losing the Cubs or something.”
Christopher Lackner, a spokesman for Herman and Jan Berghoff, said the decision to close “wasn’t without great thought. The Berghoff family shares the sadness the city shares.”
The Berghoffs never put the building or the restaurant on the market, Lackner said. Both the building and the business would fetch a high price.
“It does very well,” Lackner said. “It is a very successful business.” He declined to disclose its revenues.
Under the family’s plan, Artistic Events by Carlyn Berghoff Catering Inc. will take over the building this winter. She will rename the bar 17 West at The Berghoff and reopen the adjoining cafe but reserve the dining room–cloaked in rich oak and graced with pictures of old Chicago–for private, catered events.
Artistic Events hasn’t determined what if any changes will be made to the building’s exterior, including its landmark sign, said Jennifer Connelly, a spokeswoman for the company.
The Berghoff traces its roots to Herman Joseph Berghoff’s desire in 1898 to showcase his Dortmunder-style beer. At a bar at State and Adams Streets, he sold it for a nickel a mug and offered sandwiches for free.
Prohibition forced The Berghoff to expand into a full-service restaurant, which has been at its current location–next door to the original–since 1936.
The Berghoff was the first Chicago establishment to get a liquor license after Prohibition ended in 1933.
It was also known for maintaining a separate, men-only bar long after such practices faded.
For legions of Chicago men of a certain age, The Berghoff was a stop-off point for a beer before attending a Blackhawks game at Chicago Stadium, or one of the first destinations after turning 21.
The men-only tradition ended in 1969 when seven members of the National Organization for Women sat down at the bar and demanded service.
But mostly, The Berghoff has been known as an old-style, family-run restaurant where the waiters wear black jackets and white aprons. It’s been a traditional stop for generations of Chicagoans and visitors.
December 30th, 2005 at 9:17 pm
Two months without updating and then I come to your site and suddenly - 3 posts in less than a week! A rather pleasant suprise
As you don’t have a shout box that I can “shout shout shout” into I have to do the traditional thing of leaving you an actual comment. Enjoy 
January 10th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
So did you ever get a chance to visit The Berghoff?
January 12th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Yeah, I’ve been to the Berghoff a couple times. It’s a cool place… really sad to see it go. The old waiters there have been working at the place, some of them for thirty years. it’s one of those kinds of restaurants. old chicago, classy, good german food, fancy interior with lots of heavy wood in the walls/ceilings, you get the drift.