Saturday, September 24, 2016

Carol's Pub Closes (At Least For Now) - One Of Uptown's Last Appalachian-Era Hangouts

It's all very mysterious. The famous country music dive bar, Carol's Pub, has closed its doors at Clark and Leland, and its future is unclear. Even the person who runs its Facebook page seems to be in the dark about what's going on.

It was open Labor Day weekend, but after that things get murky. On September 9, it posted on its Facebook page:
Due to circumstances beyond our control, Carols's Pub will be closed this weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will reopen next week. Stay tuned.....
On September 16, it posted:
For all of you who have been asking.....Carol's Pub is closed again this weekend . Hopefully we'll be back up and running next week. Thanks to all for your continued support! Please share with your friends.
And yesterday it only got worse:
Carol's Pub will remain closed until further notice. Thanks again for your continued support. Please share this post with your friends.
In response to questions, the person in charge of the Facebook page (possibly a member of the house band, Diamondback) says, "Carol is really the only one who knows what's going on." That would be Carol Harris, who took over the place in 1993, after her husband Ted Harris passed away. He took ownership of Carol's, then known as Pam's Playhouse, in 1973.

It's not a hopeful situation, especially since the phone number to the bar is now disconnected and its website appears to be down as well.

If anyone has any information about whether or not Carol's will reopen, please share it in the comments.

Update: According to Eater Chicago, the state has revoked Carol's liquor license.

7 comments:

  1. When a place is closed more after promising to be open more, odds run upwards of 8:1 they will never reopen under the old management.

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  2. Oh no! One of Chicago's great, live country music and line dancing venues appears be closing. It was a favorite of the very, very late night crowd. It will mark the end of an Uptown era. Pray it isn't so!

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  3. Catastrophic loss, if this does not have a good outcome...

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  4. I saw one of the bartenders go inside on Friday and asked him. He said (with heavy emphasis) that it's a temporary closure. When I asked if it would change owners he said emphatically, "No!" Hmmm...

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  5. ask the state/city-should be easy to find out because they closed it. ps-carol does NOT own the building

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