River North before "The Bear"
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A River North sign in front of the Clark Street outdoor dining area. Photo: Justin Kaufmann/AxiosPhoto: Justin Kaufmann/Axios
Season Three of "The Bear" hit Hulu on Wednesday night, and the River North neighborhood remains one of its main stars.
Why it matters: The depiction of the neighborhood reminds us how much it's changed over the decades, especially around Mr. Beef (opened in 1979), which inspired the show's Original Beef of Chicagoland.
Flashback: In the 1830s, the area was occupied largely by industrial buildings and Irish workers at breweries, tanneries and soap factories. A couple of decades later, Chicago's first railroad brought more European immigrants to the neighborhood.
- Around the Depression, the eastern edge closer to Michigan Avenue became wealthier, while the area near the river remained underdeveloped.
- By mid-century, factories and industrial warehouses like Blommer and Montgomery Ward were still prevalent in the area, making hearty lunch places like Mr. Beef popular.
- In the 1970s the area became a hot spot for the queer community with the opening of Dugan's Bistro, known as the "Studio 54 of the Midwest."
- In the '80s, factory closings left big, open spaces — ideal for art studios and galleries, which we still see along Superior, Erie and Franklin streets today.
- In the '90s, Mayor Richard M. Daley and developers saw the advantage of riverfront property. Higher-end mid-rises popped up, leading Daley to start the demolition of Cabrini Green apartments on the northern edge of River North.
Dig in: Gordon Sinclair's Gordon restaurant in 1976 and Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill in 1987 became early high-end restaurants in a neighborhood now brimming with them.
- Bayless recalls that River North was "super, super sleazy" when he arrived, but it was all he could afford.
- "You look around this neighborhood now, and you can't even imagine that it was that way," he told Eater in 2013. "It was all adult bookstores and strip clubs, and there were all these bars with little room places up above that you could rent by the hour."
State of play: One of the last vestiges of the era is Te-Jay's Adult Books sandwiched between two Lettuce Entertain You restaurants on Hubbard Street.
- Bayless expanded down the block, opening two more restaurants — Topolobampo and Xoco.
- Plus, the neighborhood now has French restaurants (Brindille, Obelix and La Grande Boucherie), Mediterranean fare (avec) and cocktail bars (Gilt Bar and Broken Shaker).
The bottom line: When "The Bear" was released, some criticized the show's River North setting as too glitzy for a working-class beef joint, but the rags-to-riches transformation emerging this season reflects the neighborhood's metamorphosis.