The Treasure that is Harry Caray's
You might not expect a restaurant to be a repository for history and Chicago lore.
Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse is, of course, a restaurant, and a fine one at that. Any place that’s survived the tumultuous River North dining scene for more than thirty years does so for good reason. It’s more than just a celebrity name on a gorgeous building. It’s Holy Cow-worthy good food and good service.
This is a place that’s also very much rooted in the past. CEO Grant DePorter may be even more obsessed with the building’s history than he is with the Chicago Cubs, and he wrote a book on the team. The first floor of the Chicago Varnish Company Building is decorated with sports memorabilia, celebrity photos, and a bust of Harry Caray, the famed baseball announcer, himself.
Head towards the stairs to the basement, though, and you’ll be stepping back in time.
The walls of the staircase are lined with photos and newspaper clippings telling the stories of the building’s past inhabitants. Annette, Frank, Al, Ed O’Hare the scoundrel and Butch O’Hare the hero—their stories are told through these windows to the past.
At the bottom of the stairs, there’s an actual window cut into the brick wall. Inside is Frank’s address book, filled with names and numbers of prominent people who would make the Outfit’s activities go a little smoother. There’s also a vault, within a vault, within a vault. This belts-and-suspenders safe shows signs of multiple attempts to crack it.
Elsewhere in the basement, DePorter discovered secret rooms, another vault, bricked-over doors, and a passageway that led to the underground tunnels favored by bootleggers and gangsters. He’s documented, and publicized, all of it, and one media appearance garnered the attention of Nitti’s descendants. They’ve kept in touch and provided DePorter with a priceless collection of the property’s titles, going all the way back to Dr. Alexander Wolcott.
Later this week we’ll walk into the People’s Palace, a gorgeous cultural treasure and an engineering marvel.
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