Irish tales before the blizzard

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Updated: May 29, 2011 4:47AM

By the time you read this, the zombie snow-pocalypse should be well underway. If, because of my stocky build, I become a cannibalized victim, a tasty treat for the frozen undead, at least I had a moment Monday to promote my legacy.

That’s to say, I talked to the Elgin Rotary Club lunch bunch about my upcoming and first book, “Chicago’s Historic Irish Pubs,” or CHIPS, as I like to call it, which I put together with former Courier-News reporter Allison Hantschel. The book comes out Feb. 28 from Arcadia Press, and you can order it online now through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Like any guest speaker these days, I brought along visual aids for my presentation. No PowerPoint for me, thank you. I had real, live Irish people in tow who helped me tell my tale.

See, Shay and Traci Clarke of West Dundee served as inspiration, of sorts, for the book. When my parents moved away from the area more than 15 years ago, the left their eldest to the Clarkes, making me the world’s oldest reported adoption case.

It worked out nicely for the Clarkes, because I’ve already bought and paid for my college education, and, for the most part, I’m potty trained. A child for which they have no financial obligations is every parent’s dream.

For me, it meant being introduced to pretty much all things Irish, including what were some raucous, song-infested Irish nights at the long-closed JJ Finnegan’s in Spring Hill Mall. The success of those nights led to the Irish Fest at the nearby St. Catherine of Siena church grounds and to the owners of Finnegan’s to open The Curragh near Woodfield (which has since made way for a jeweler), and then to open another Curragh location in Edison Park.

The Irish nights also helped convince the Clarkes’ friend and fellow Irishman, Maurice McNally, to open his own pub in St. Charles at his first location in 1997 and now, just across North Avenue from the Hotel Baker, in 2010.

Things Irish were at the height of their popularity then, thanks in some part to Chicago area native Michael Flatley and “Riverdance,” which launched a sea of PBS pledge-time specials that are shown to this day.

Irish pubs were, and still are, part of this mix. And when the Clarkes came to the Chicago area to start their life in this country, the first place they hit was Kitty O’Shea’s in the Hilton across Michigan Avenue from Grant Park, where Eamonn Brady was manager.

Brady came to Chicago in 1970 with his musical family, and they promptly had their instruments stolen. When word got out, Mayor Richard J. Daley made sure they got new ones. The Brady clan wound up settling in Chicago and opening Kilkenny Castle, a folk music pub of their own.

That eventually led to Eamonn Brady managing Kitty’s, then doing a stint at The Curragh, then coming back to Kitty’s, where he still works.

Kitty O’Shea’s was the Hilton’s first $1 million-plus earning bar, which led to Irish pubs opening throughout the United States and the world, for that matter.

Hearing such stories from the Clarkes and their friends over the years led me to the idea for a book about Chicago’s Irish places to drink. The initial idea was to go in and ask a simple question: Tell a story. As the above shows, most will have ones.

Allison suggested broadening out the book to a historical perspective, which attracted Arcadia, which is known for publishing collections of vintage photos. We have plenty of those in the book, too, from the Sauganash Hotel in the 1830s to McGonigal’s in Barrington, which opened last year.

What we don’t have is a bar in Bridgeport, where we were promptly shown the door.

“What do you know about Irish bars in Bridgeport?” the menacing-looking barkeep snarled softly.

“Not much. That’s why we’re here,” said silly suburbanite me.

“Well I suggest you stop asking questions about Irish bars in Bridgeport,” he said, before telling us to leave.

Hey, it’s a book about Chicago. At least one such experience was pretty much expected.