Best alkie end-of-nighter nightspot that we’ll never forget, or remember for that matter

Marie’s Riptide Lounge
It’s sad to watch it happen. Those who’ve watched it happen know that it has been awhile since Marie herself, who passed away in 2011, actually sat behind the bar, trumpeting the spirit of joy in the midst of despair. But in our years of experience touring the usual 4am nightspots in the city, Marie’s Riptide Lounge always held the title of a place you and your alkie friends would prefer to land at the end of the night, given the onerous options for misfits all too keenly aware of what those options were. Its grizzled interior proudly bore the scars of fifty years of just such hard-drinking mirth when the bar closed for good in August this year. How many nights ended in a successfully joy-filled blackout in Marie’s wood-paneled back room, staring half-lidded at someone you love, sprawled across a wobbly banquette seat? Like the woman herself, Marie’s may be gone, but it will never be forgotten.

Best of Chicago 2013