Like Capone's Vault, only with stuff in it

One of the things I learned from working with the Chicago Trolley Company a few years ago was that if you picked any person from any country around the world and said the name, "Chicago" to them, they'd do one of two things.

a.) They'd hunker over with an imaginary tommy gun, go "bam, bam, bam" and say "Al Capone!"
b.) They'd grin and immediately pipe up with, "Michael Jordan!"

Point B was a relatively new phenomenon, but was endlessly pleasing to the tourism bureau - if people instantly connect your city with corruption, illegal activities and murder, you won't attract many people to town and the ones who do show up might be a little weird.

Still, there are plenty of old sites around the city that remind people of Chicago's rough history from the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on Clark Street to the Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was gunned down where the dumpsters for the taco joint are now.

So, it's no surprise that any place with a legitimate - or even those that are a bit of a stretch, like a few bars in the Southwest 'burbs with access to the I and M Canal - claim to Chicago's gangland history has more than a few folks poking around looking for ssome of Capone's old shell casings.

The Chicago Tribune has posted a multimedia story on the Green Mill and the tunnels that zip around underneath it. With a former Capone henchman, Jack McGurn, at the helm, the Green Mill has its requisite cred and a steady stream of jazz - both live and from the ancient juke box - cascading from the club, there are nights where it seems that not much has changed.

It's a really cool presentation, with a guided tour of the underground offices, tunnels and (ooh!) restrooms. I always thought that the trapdoor led to a cooler - as a bartender had told me - but it leads to storage and a lot of junk. Incidentally, the staff there could only remember one person ever falling through the trap door, even on the busiest nights - and that was a new manager.

I got the feeling no one felt too bad about the accident, which might explain why no one warned them.

Anyways, the Green Mill should be on everyone's list of cool things to see in the city, whether you're a resident or just visiting. I can't even recall how many nights we'd be down there until far too late on a school night for Jimmy Sutton and the Four Charms or Swing Night or even Sabretooth on occasion.

When you ask me to narrow down some of my favorite "city kid" moments of living there in my mid-20s, the Green Mill is in more than it's fair share. I have to say that knowing I'd sat in Capone's old booth on occasion makes me feel just a little bit cooler. At the very least, it would have made for better stories with dates I was trying to impress with my knowledge of things that are awesome.

OK, maybe not.

Still, I'm sure I speak for everyone who stayed out with me when I say that had we known where that booth was, we'd have hurried our asses up to get there earlier every Tuesday.

I'm not sure if it's better or worse than sitting in the John Cusack/High Fidelity spot. We might have had to work out some sort of rotation.

(Image from LuminoMagazine.com, via Chicagoist)