Introduction to Strange Bar Sunday
CHICAGO — While out running errands on a Sunday afternoon in 2014, two longtime friends took a detour after a red and white neon sign caught their eye. It was the Podlasie Club in Avondale. Drinking buddies since before it was legal for them to drink, the men took a chance on the Polish dive bar, 2918 N. Central Park Ave., and had a great time, they said.
The Birth of a New Tradition
“We left and saw the Podhale one block north and decided, what the hell, let’s check that out, too,” they told Block Club in a joint email interview. The scene inside the Podhale with its “wild cast of characters” is seared in their minds. “The bartender was having a heated argument on a landline telephone while pouring our beers,” the friends said. There were “old Polish guys in suits just having a good time.” The pair never did finish their errands that day, but their escapades resulted in a new Sunday tradition: checking out Chicago’s off-the-beaten-path bars and documenting their adventures online.
The Strange Bar Sunday Instagram Account
The pair’s Strange Bar Sunday Instagram account follows them as they explore dives, clubs, bars and everything in between. At first, the men only had each other as followers. They now have tens of thousands of fans, but their approach, presented in “fly-on-the-wall,” documentary-style posts, hasn’t changed, they said. It’s for this reason the two 30-something longtime friends prefer to stay anonymous. One is a teacher on the South Side, while the other is a bartender on the North Side. “We want to meet people in their natural habitats, behaving how they normally would to get a true sense of the bar and its clientele,” they said, adding that any special treatment would sour the experience.
A 2014 visit to the Podlasie Club in Avondale sparked the idea for the Strange Bar Sunday Instagram account. The pair who run it also visited the Podhale bar next door (now Central Park Bar) that same day. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Finding The ‘Forgotten Taverns’
The two became enamored with bars that “have been around longer than we’ve been alive.” “They’re time capsules,” they said. “Going to a bar is a social experiment, one of the last bastions of the physical location in an increasingly digital world.” It has also allowed them to explore more of Chicago. Going on a Strange Bar trip has offered them opportunities to find “the forgotten taverns that have still hung on,” they said. “Those places are the last of a dying breed,” they said. “And every time we think we’ve been everywhere, we keep finding new gems. Chicago is the best.”
An unnamed man at the old Podhale Tavern, also known as Mr. ZJ’s, 2924 N. Central Park Ave., photographed by two friends who run the Strange Bar Sunday Instagram account. “Just a cool-ass, old motherf—-r,” they said. Credit: Provided
What is a Strange Bar?
So what exactly is a strange bar? “A dive bar is not always a strange bar, and a strange bar doesn’t have to be a dive bar,” they said. “There are more elements than just being a dive — it could be the bartender, could be the clientele, could be the location, could be what happens at the bar. It depends on the vibe. It’s about … [the] spectrum of strange. And strange things are fun.” People-watching, hearing stories you might not otherwise and soaking in the charm, or lack thereof, have been the biggest rewards, they said. To put it plainly: “Strange Bars are nooks in which Chicago secrets [lie].”
The Unique Aspects of Chicago Bar Life
Their experiences have also highlighted the unique aspects of Chicago bar life, such as its preponderance of Old Style signs. The signs were beacons of light when the men started their Strange Bar excursions because they knew it was indicative of a long-established pub, they said. Chicago’s people are also incomparable because they will actually talk to you — and “it’s not like that in every big city,” they said. “What we’ve learned is that you never know what you’re gonna walk into,” they said. “Once you get out of your bubble, it’s not always fun — but at the same time, we are surprised by how welcoming and hospitable some dives are. We’ve come to realize they are the backbone of [the] community — real people living in the neighborhood.” And with real people in the mix, you never know what you’re going to get. The pair said they’ve seen a man spill a bag of sex toys on the floor, been invited to a “hillbilly sex party,” wound up at “weird houses” and sang “Wooly Bully” in Spanish with everyone in the bar. “We appreciate the tiny moments,” they said.
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