Woodlawn Tap

Woodlawn Tap: a nobel spot to belly-up for a beer.

Mention Woodlawn Tap to University of Chicago alumnae and expect a wave of nostalgia for this dank and dark pub that has been a Hyde Park fixture since 1948.

For half a century this Hyde Park pub has been the watering hole and cave of reprieve for the study-wearied students, erudite professors and blue-collar workers.

Often called Jimmy's —  in reference to its late founder Jimmy Wilson — Woodlawn Tap seems to be from a different era. Occupying a squat one-story brick building, the pub is divided into three dark-paneled, creaky rooms.

The first room is home to a great old bar with stools and a few haggard wooden tables. A couple of video and pinball games and tables make up the second room and the third is where jazz can be heard each Sunday.

A set of encyclopedia's lines a corner wall added to the bar many years ago for reference and a way to settle bar disputes. A few Shakespeare tomes also had their place at the Woodlawn, but bartenders said they've long disappeared.

Despite a musty scent to the tap, there's an eruidte air about the place. When alive, Wilson kept newspaper clippings and accounts of famous patrons. Poet Dylan Thomas bent an elbow here as did author Saul Bellow, economist Milton Friedman, anthropologist Margaret Mead, numerous U of C Nobel Laureates. Staffers are pround to tell of the days when Senator Obama would stop in with friends.

If you love a good debate and intellectual musings amid a multi-cultural mix of people, this place will seem like home. The Woodlawn serves beers — pints start at $2.50, pitchers, are $8 and up—as well as call drinks between $3 and $5. Bartenders will smirk if you attempt ordering a fancy cocktail.

The menu is student grub — hamburgers under $3, a big plate of fries for $4 and a Rueben sandwich under $6. It is cash-only and there’s an on-site ATM.