The Red Lion: "Home of the Poet's Pint"

 

The Red Lion Pub in Chicago's Lincoln Park on 2446 North Lincoln Avenue directly across from the Biograph Theatre

The Red Lion Pub has just been rebuilt and reopened after having been closed for 6 long years.  I have been a regular since moving to Chicago in 1988. It's a British pub with a real British pedigree.  The original building was built in 1882 and went through a variety of owners until being purchased in 1984 by prominent local architect and former City Planning Commissioner John Cordwell.  In addition to being the Mayor's point man on urban development in the 1950s, Cordwell had previously been a Royal Air Force pilot shot down over Germany during WWII and served as a Prisoner of War.  He was part of the group that engineered The Great Escape that was later made into the classic Steve McQueen movie.  The character based on Cordwell was depicted on screen by Donald Pleasance. After his years at City Hall and as a successful private sector architect, Cordwell wanted to become a 'publican' so purchased the building across from the Biograph Theatre and opened The Red Lion Pub and served as host until his death in 1999 where he always looked resplendent in RAF mustache and ascot while cradling a glass of the very best port.


John Cordwell aka "Cordwell the Elder"

 

From the very start, The Red Lion was a saloon where conversation reigned as there was no music and only one old TV for watching old movies (usually British and/or War movies) and it quickly became a hangout for writers, actors, professors, politicos, and history buffs. The elder Cordwell was a great storyteller and us younger guys just liked basking in his presence as the local powerbrokers, world leaders, and stars of stage and screen settled in with those who just liked to enjoy a few pints and a good talk into the wee small hours.

Donald Pleasance who played the forger based on John Cordwell in The Great Escape

 

Upstairs in the old building, the Red Lion would host amateur theatricals and became a hangout for many in the theatre community with Brian Dennehy often stopping in. A small theatrical troupe led by Barbara Gaines had the lofty ambition of becoming a Shakespeare Company and back in 1986 held their first production of Henry V on the 2nd floor patio.

Barbara Gaines founder of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre during their inaugural production
of Henry V in 1986 on The Red Lion's upstairs patio.
 

That little troupe that started outside on The Red Lion patio grew to be one the world's preeminent Shakespeare Companies performing in front of 225,000 attendees each year and doing outreach to 40,000 Chicago area school children.  I have much more I want to say about Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and will do so in a couple of upcoming posts.

Colin Cordwell, Red Lion Pub proprietor, aka "First Lord of Chicago Barkeeps"
 

When John Cordwell died in 1999, his son Colin Cordwell took the helm and has been our very charming and gracious host ever since.  One of Colin's highlights was the night Christopher Hitchens stopped in.  Colin and I have long been admirers of  'Hitch' for a variety of reasons and for Colin, like Hitch, a Great War (WWI) poetry aficionado, it was a real treat as they spent an hour and a half volleying passages (over Macallan 18) by Owen, Graves, Sassoon, McCrae, et al.  I wasn't there during Hitch's visit as I was in Baghdad serving in the Army.  When I was home on leave from Iraq in October 2007, my friends hosted a reception for me at The Red Lion and Colin told me of Hitch's visit.  Hitch had been the most eloquent and forceful advocate for the Iraq War and for that he was very dear to me (**see footnote below).     

The late Christopher Hitchens aka 'Hitch' who stopped in one memorable evening
and discussed Great War poetry with Colin over Macallan 18

Not a very good picture taken during a pre-opening party July 11, 2014
Lighting now much more subdued!

The old building had fallen into severe disrepair after 120 years and in 2008 had to be closed down and rebuilt.  There were many complications but finally Colin got a new building erected and opened only about 3 weeks ago. I can report that the new building's interior feels new and different but with the many bookcases bulging and the spruce beams it has the wonderful ambience of a very clubby library.  There is now a little music (such as the Beatles) that hovers unintrusively in the background but it remains a saloon for conversation.  The front room is known as The Great War room with some memorabilia commemorating Colin's grandfather, a highly decorated British soldier, wounded (bayoneted) at Gallipoli. There is a wall devoted to his father's exploits during WWII and upstairs is The Africa Room in honor of his mother, a noted Africa Scholar, with some artifacts from her travels there.


The cozy upstairs  Africa Room



I donated this Dr Johnson portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds that is hanging prominently
over the main floor in a frame I will soon be replacing with something more suitable.

Colin says he feels more like a steward than owner and he is the gracious host that makes you feel even more than welcome...like you belong. For me, it would have a special place in my heart regardless but I did donate a number of my favorite books: Complete Shakespeare, Harvard Classics, and many works either by or about my hero Dr Johnson who, as I noted in a previous post, famously said: "There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn."

Directly across the street from The Red Lion is the famous Biograph Theatre where John Dillinger was gunned down by
G-men in 1934 after 'The Lady in Red' gave him up. That crowd above has assembled around the corpse.
 

**I enlisted in the US Army back in August 2006 after they raised the maximum enlistment age allowing me to serve for the first time since 9/11/2001. While I arrived at my reasons for supporting the Iraq War independent of Hitch, he was the most eloquent, tireless, and fearless spokesman for a cause I strongly believed in.  Hitch, like me, had many friends who were very anti-Iraq war and I always felt a strong connection to him as a comrade in arms, hard-drinking raconteur, and loved his brilliant writings on literature.

***GSL has no financial or official involvement with The Red Lion Pub of any kind.