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Red Wings fans abound at the Gin Mill Bar in Chicago.
n the night the Stanley
Cup finals coincided with
the National Basketball
Association finals, Rob
Katz faced a serious dilemma.
As the owner of one of two
Chicago bars that caters to De-
troit fans, the obvious choice —
albeit unusual in Bulls territory
--- was to show the Red Wings
game.
But that night was a little dif-
ferent at Katz's Waterloo Tavern
in Lincoln Park — located a walk
away from Wrigley Field and sur-
rounded by blocks of sports bars
and taverns that overflow with
Michael Jordan-worshipping
twentysomethings every night of
the week. The Waterloo was host-
ing a Mt. Sinai Hospital fund-
raiser, and the rather exclusive
group of mostly Jewish guests
naturally expected to watch the
Bulls while sipping their
Chardonnay.
So Katz put on the basketball
game in the front room, and left
the Red Wings crowd with a few
small screens in the back. The
Bulls didn't stand a chance. The
Detroit fans were so much more
passionate, Katz said, he ended
up nixing the NBA in favor of
hockey. In Chicago, no less.
"This is not a good place to
watch a Chicago game," said Wa-
terloo bouncer John Ladle.
"Everyone here is from one of the
Bloomfields. I've gotten to know
Michigan IDs very well."
Two blocks north at the Gin
Mill, it's like walking into a bar
on campus at Michigan State. A
sign above the doorway reading
"Welcome to East Lansing" lets
any unsuspecting Chicago fans
know they are not in Bulls-Black-
hawks territory anymore.
"This is just like being at
school," said University of Michi-
gan junior Ryan Kantor. A Chica-
go native, he had no idea the Gin
0
Mill was a "Michigan" bar until
walking in while home on break
this summer, and bumping into
some college friends.
The throngs of young Michi-
ganders who have migrated to
Chicago, however, know the Gin
Mill and Waterloo are almost like
being at home.
"Everyone told me this is a
Michigan place," said 24-year-old
Bill Noble, who moved to the
Windy City from Grand Rapids
three years ago. "I always come
here for the games."
They might leave home, but
true Michigan fans never aban-
don their teams.
"There is such a huge popula-
tion of Michigan people here, no
Bulls bar does as well as we do
with the Red Wings," said Gin
Mill co-owner Anthony Eugenio,
originally from Grosse Pointe.
The Waterloo was first to es-
tablish this home-away-from-
home for Detroit fans. Katz,
creator of the hoopla, is actually
not from Michigan; he's just a
sharp businessman who grew up
in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada. Katz realized the po-
tential profit in catering to an or-
phaned group of enthusiastic
sports fans while bartending at
another popular Chicago tavern.
"We had the music market cor-
nered, but zero in sports," Katz
explained, pointing to the satu-
ration of Chicago sports bars, es-
pecially in the ever-youthful and
congested Lincoln Park. "So we
started showing University of
Colorado games, and soon we
were filling the room."
Katz said he picked Colorado
because a lot of Chicago's afflu-
ent North Shore kids attend
school there; and they make up
just the type of good-looking, hip
crowd he wanted at his bar.
Colorado already spoken for,
when Katz opened the Waterloo
four years ago, he needed anoth-
er state with a substantial pres-
ence in Chicago and a die-hard
commitment to its teams. Green
Bay was too cheesy, Minnesota
too frigid. He picked the Lions.
(Hey, the Red Wings were losing
back then.)
Most of the original Waterloo
bartenders were University of
Michigan and Michigan State
alumni: like David Hasslinger, of
Pontiac, who saw the booming
call for Michigan bars in Chica-
go and set off to open the Gin
Mill, which is even more fervent
(in a drunken, collegiate sort of
way) about its hometown ties. A
Red Wings logo shines bright in
red neon above the bar. Spartan
banners decorate the walls. Not
to mention the smattering of
Michigan caps and T-shirts that
identify the loyalties of these
jovial patrons.
For now, there seem to be
enough Michiganders to support
both neighboring bars. The Red
Wings' championship certainly
provided a big boost this season.
At 4 p.m. the day of the final
game, the Gin Mill had a line 150
strong outside the door.
At the Waterloo that night, a
popular Ohio band called Ekoost-
ik Hookah had been scheduled to
play. Band members were ecsta-
tic to see the overflowing crowd
hours before they were scheduled
to take the stage.
But the band never did reach
the stage, engulfed in a sea of Red
Wings fans dancing in the aisles,
on the bar, and even into a few
reluctant Black Hawks-loyal bars
nearby.
The band, which usually packs
a bar on its own, won't be coming
back to the Waterloo, Katz
knows. But that's OK. This
Chicago bar has more than
enough Detroit faithfuls to fill its
stools. ❑
.