Near West Side 4am retreat The Continental, which boasts multiple vulgar nicknames, as well as “Mistakes,” has nested for thirteen years in a nook of Humboldt Park directly before the twining instruction of Chicago and Grand and the railway yards, far from drink-‘em-up competition. There have been drive-by window shoot-ups by jealous weapon owners in the past, but security’s good, and there are, of course, multiple security cameras. (Another form of crash was the violent hailstorm that stripped the antique sign of its neon tubing for good.) Footage of crashes from the first decade include the late-night flattening of a superb family-owned food truck that parked outside until after the 4am dispersal of leave-taking libidinous and libated customers. Most recently, social media got a gander at a bizarre midday T-boning involving an errant police vehicle rushing the California and Chicago intersection and caving a truck into the storefront, with the result that the interior atmosphere of an exposed-brick 1930s saloon gaining an unlikely trim and spiffy façade. (Ray Pride) 2810 W. Chicago, 773.292.1200
