If you look up reviews for the Woodlawn Tap online, you will inevitably come across two things: one, everyone is especially apt to point out that everyone else refers to the bar as Jimmy’s, and two, it is the ‘perfect little dive bar.’ Now, the first of these factoids is unmistakably true. Regardless of the impressively large white lettering that spells out ‘WOODLAWN TAP’ on the outside of the bar, no self-respecting Hyde Park resident refers to the bar as anything other than Jimmy’s. Until I moved to an apartment on the same street as Jimmy’s, I never even realized that they were one and the same establishment.
The classification of Jimmy’s as a ‘dive bar,’ however, seems less fitting. Yes, it has cheap drinks, poor lighting, and standard bar food. However, Jimmy’s offers more than your, (or I should say, my), imagined version of a dive bar. For one, the entrance features a large print of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, and the main bar proudly displays the University of Chicago’s emblem. It even won an award in 2009 for being one of the Best College Bars/Pubs.
Featured: not dive bar material
Aside from aesthetics and awards, Jimmy’s has actual activities that don’t seem to resonate with the idea of a dive bar. For instance, how many dive bars have live jazz every week? Maybe there are some. But Jimmy’s not only has FREE jazz nights every Sunday night, it has free jazz nights that regularly attract a sizable crowd and excellent musicians. I’ve been going to these Sunday night jazz events for the past couple of weeks, and have noticed a few things.
(1) The jazz night ‘regulars’ (both musicians and patrons) are really decent people with actual knowledge on both jazz and how not to be a jerk.
(2) Though the jazz is a bit slow to get started (regularly beginning well past the 9:00 start time) the sets are fairly long without a whole lot of audience pandering or hat passing.
(3) As far as I can tell, actual members of the community (as opposed to just college kids) gather for these events. This is, of course, a good thing.
(4) Ostensibly, The Clash was so impressed with Jimmy’s Jazz nights that they wrote an entire song about it – called Jimmy Jazz.
Of course, Jimmy’s is just as diverse in its activities as it is in clientele. Are you there on a Saturday night at 11 pm? Chances are the main events will be the Elvis pinball machine and wall-to-wall students. Sunday night? Jazz. Tuesday afternoons? The over 40 crowd. But rather than espousing this as a bad thing, I think we all need to appreciate how great Jimmy’s is at offering a wide range of experiences and uniting the community.
Of course, the cheap drinks help too.
