Schaller's Pump Historic Bar / Restaurant / Sports Bar

Bridgeport, Chicago –

A sports bar, a politician’s hangout, a place for home-cooked grub, and a friendly neighborhood dive all coexist at Schaller’s Pump, and have for longer than at any other watering hole in town.

Established in 1881, the joint survived prohibition as a speakeasy, was the favored drinking den of five Chicago mayors (and counting), and used to abut the Ambrosia Brewery until that got torn down in the 50s, leaving a huge lot that remains empty to this day.

A few blocks from U.S. Cellular Field, the bar is utterly devoted to the Sox, with limited décor save for the team paraphernalia that plasters the walls – including a diagram of the field with patrons’ smiling photos pasted across it – and is packed with feisty locals whenever the game is on.

Other days, the Pump is normally just a chill neighborhood hangout. Far from a raging party, all sorts still drop in to experience the famously friendly vibe, nosh on Irish-American comfort food, and listen to stereotypical South Side Chicagoans talk about future prospects for “Da Bears.”

After all this time, the pub remains family owned, with the elderly patriarch – a tiny man with a perpetual smile – hanging out until late and telling patrons “I’ll see ya in church!” as they depart.

A Chicago classic, Schaller’s Pump is the sort of bar that’s cool specifically because it really isn’t – the sort of bar someone would take grandma to…

…unless she’s a Cubs fan.