Walk in the bar and you instantly get a speakeasy vibe. In it was built over one of three original cemeteries in the area. It was a Schlitz Brewery cooperage in the late s and early s and was a speakeasy and brothel owned by the Capone brothers during Prohibition. The cognac dates back to , but I opted for a light French 75 cocktail while dining on the calamari special. Both were fabulous by the way.
I got the backstory on the building and some of its patrons, including serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was an occasional patron in from January to July, when he was arrested. Well, that threw a whole different level of bizarreness to my spirited evening. Apparently there is a little girl who haunts the space. Her name is Elizabeth and her death pre-dates the building.
When it was most likely a cemetery, the year old girl climbed up an apple tree in , fell and broke her neck. A friendly prankster is my kind of ghost! I went into the bathroom, said her name, looked around for anything unusual and went into the stall. When I unlocked the stall door and tried to leave, it would budge. Took me three pushes for it to finally open. Stuck hinge? Elizabeth the prankster ghost? I chose to believe the later. I returned to the table nervously laughing, down a second French 75 and hoped that would be my only encounter on the tour.
She was a delight — very engaging, funny and full of ghostly tales. We started the tour in the alley to enter through the Prohibition entrance. From to Al and Frank Capone owned the building operating a soda bottling area in the front, speakeasy in the back and brothel upstairs. While standing in the speakeasy area now back dining room area , Melanie pointed out the archway dividing the two large rooms on the first floor. The front was where they bottled soda during Prohibition and the back where we were standing was where men induldged in drinks and smokes while being tantalized by sexual engagements with ladies.
Melanie went on to tell the story of Elizabeth to the rest of the tour group made up of a birthday party group and a couple. Then we went into the basement. I was the last one to head down, or so I thought. I closed the door and stood at the top of the stairs to take pictures and video. As I was about to walk down, something caught my eye. General Manager Brianna scared me half to death by accident.
