After almost 20 years of serving cocktail connoisseurs in Wicker Park, The Violet Hour bar is completely closing its doorways.
Positioned at 1520 N. Damen Ave., the James Beard-winning institution made the announcement Friday on its Fb and Instagram accounts.
A number of weeks in the past, the bar closed briefly as a consequence of sudden harm to the constructing, in response to an announcement attributed to homeowners and companions at One Off Hospitality Group.
“Regardless of intensive efforts and negotiations, we had been regretfully unable to succeed in a decision with our landlord,” the management crew acknowledged.
Toby Maloney, Jason Cott, Donnie Madia, Peter Garfield and Terry Alexander opened the bar in 2007. It helped bolster the expansion of Chicago’s craft cocktail scene, and received the James Beard Award for Excellent Bar Program in 2015.
Maloney mirrored on the bar’s origin in Nicole Schnitzler’s “Chicago Cocktails” recipe e-book, launched in February.
“Once we opened, we had been making an attempt to deliver with us a brand new approach of seeing cocktails,” Maloney mentioned. “For those who’re going out with a bunch of your mates for dancing and pictures — and I like each — it’s not the time to go to locations like … The Violet Hour. These are locations you’d come to on a 3rd date, in case your mother and father are visiting from out of city, or if you wish to sit down with a buddy you haven’t talked with in a protracted whereas. You sit down, you have a look at a menu. It’s extra of a restaurant expertise than a bar expertise.”
The Violet Hour’s affect was evident among the many tons of of consumers who left feedback on the bar’s Instagram web page on Friday.
“Y’all began the cocktail revolution in Chicago,” @megmugg wrote. “Thanks for all the nice drinks turning me right into a cocktail snob!”
“What a wild run it’s been for this unbelievable establishment,” @sjberto wrote. “It will likely be missed without end within the Chicago scene it helped to form and outline. Congrats to all who made this bar so profitable and profound through the years.”
The Violet Hour’s homeowners thanked its patrons and hinted that there could also be a brand new life for the beloved establishment.
“From the artists who painted our ever-changing facade to the bartenders who opened their very own award-winning bars, we’re pleased with the position we performed in sparking a cultural shift in how this metropolis drinks and gathers,” the homeowners mentioned within the social media assertion. “This isn’t the top of The Violet Hour as a model, and but it’s the finish of this chapter. You may even see us once more someplace down the road.”
