Billy Goat Tavern

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The Billy Goat Tavern

The Billy Goat Tavern is a famous chain of taverns located in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1934 by Greek immigrant Billy Sianis. Its original location was across the street from the old Chicago Stadium and later moved to the lower level of the Magnificent Mile between the offices of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. This led to the Tavern's being mentioned in any number of newspaper columns, particularly those of the late Mike Royko. It is also known for its involvement in the Curse of the Billy Goat (also known as the "Cubs Curse") and for inspiring an early Saturday Night Live sketch with the John Belushi yelping the memorable lines "Cheezborger! Cheezborger!", "No fries, cheeps!" and "No Pepsi! Coke!" (See Olympia Cafe.) It now has several locations in the Chicago area and expanded to Washington, D.C., in 2005. The D.C. location is the first outside of the Chicago area and is intended to appeal primarily to politicians, lobbyists, and other D.C. workers who are originally from Chicago. The D.C. location, however, is not the first to be proposed outside the Chicago area. In the 1970s, owner Billy Sianis wrote a letter to the mayor of Chicago petitioning for the first liquor license for the moon. His hope, according to the letter that currently adorns the establishment's wall, was to best serve his country by serving delicious cheeseburgers to wayfaring astronauts as well as raising moon-goats.

[edit] History

The first location was opened in 1937 when William "Billy Goat" Sianis bought the Lincoln Tavern for $205 with a bounced check (he made good on it with the proceeds from the first weekend they were open). When the 1944 Republican Convention came to down, he posted a sign saying "No Republicans allowed" causing the place to be packed with Republicans demanding to be served. Of course, a great deal of publicity followed and Sianis took advantage of that fact. In 1964, they moved to the the current location across from Chicago Stadium. ^[1]