David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” holds acrid treasure as a tightening noose of a snapshot of sexual confoundment and consternation in the 1970s Rush Street-Division Street singles scene, but Dennis McCarthy’s “The Great Chicago Bar & Saloon Guide” gives us a ground-level 1978 taste of the still-extant The Hangge-Uppe at 14 West Elm: “Representative of the Rush Street young people’s disco-madness movement. On weekends, they pile into the two-level self-billed “distinctive discotheque,” creating a wall-to-wall mob scene. Holding a drink can be an accomplishment… The design of the place is pleasant enough, but if you go there in the peak hours it doesn’t matter since the scenery is young people dancing, dancing away. Early in the evening, backgammon is popular.” (Ray Pride)
