The 40-year-old FitzGerald’s nightclub, one of the most iconic music venues in the Chicago area, sold last week to a veteran Chicago restaurateur and club owner after it was on the market for 2 1/2 years.
Will Duncan closed the deal Wednesday on the rock-and-roots club in the Route 66 town of Berwyn, Illinois, from longtime owner and founder Bill FitzGerald.
According to the Chicago Tribune:
“My plans are to honor the history and preserve the legacy — the energy, the soul of the place, whatever you want to call it,” said Duncan, who turned 40 on Tuesday and recently resigned as beverage director for 16” on Center, the restaurant and club business that includes Thalia Hall, Dusek’s, Empty Bottle, Longman & Eagle and others. […]
“I’m just going to come over here and unlock the door and open, and I think that the community and the regular customers will recognize the staff and recognize the place and recognize a lot of what’s going on in the music calendar, and it’ll feel pretty familiar,” Duncan said.
In addition to retaining the club name and the approximately 25 staff, including head of music Donnie Biggins, plus the schedule of music festivals, Duncan said he plans to be a hands-on presence at the club in the same way FitzGerald has been, ever ready to repair a broken tap line or suggest an overly talkative patron take it to the patio outside.
FitzGerald, 67, and his wife plan to retire to a home along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.
In a separate story by the Tribune, FitzGerald signaled he was at peace with selling his establishment:
“We’ve done as much as we can do here, and it’s time to move on and let somebody else do it who’s got a little bit of the same vision, you know, but is maybe a little better funded and can bring this place into the new era,” he said.
Acts that have played at FitzGerald’s over the years include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robbie Fulks, Johnny Paycheck, Bo Diddley, Peter Wolf, Nick Lowe, NRBQ, Dave Alvin, Marcia Ball, Joe Ely, Jon Dee Graham, Jimmy LaFave, James McMurtry, Bottle Rockets, Brave Combo and Alejandro Escovedo.
The venue also appears in the films “A League of Their Own,” “The Color of Money,” “Blink,” “Adventures in Babysitting” and the Bon Jovi music video “Lost Highway.”
FitzGerald’s sits amid a century-old building that once housed a hunting lodge that became The Hunt Club and Deer Lodge.
FitzGerald’s is at 6615 Roosevelt Road, about 2 1/2 miles north of Route 66. It makes the shortlist of one of the very best music venues on or near the Mother Road. Others that come to mind are Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago; Stovall’s Grove in Wildwood, Missouri; Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa; The Museum Club of Flagstaff, Arizona; and The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.
(Image of FitzGerald’s nightclub in Berwyn, Illinois, by Brian Crawford via Flickr)