Friday is closing day at Bucket O’Sud’s, the dusty little tavern on Cicero near Belmont that’s better known simply as the Bucket. For 32 years it’s been owned and run by Joe Danno, who always wears a frayed shirt, low-riding polyester pants, sneakers, and black-rimmed glasses and always takes his own sweet time cooking up whatever drinks his regulars order.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
When Danno opened the Bucket in 1964 it was a combination tavern and family restaurant. He supplied homemade condiments, and his sister-in-law Fena whipped up Italian specials: thin pizzas, a hamburger that became known as the BOS burger, platters of ribs.
In those days the Bucket looked and felt like a neighborhood bar, but then as now very few of the customers were from the neighborhood. Its prime was in the mid-80s, when DJs from WXRT began bringing in musicians such as Steve Earle, Chrissie Hynde, XTC, and the Replacements. Elvis Costello held a release party for his album Spike at the Bucket. Danno was profiled in numerous newspaper and radio stories, and two documentaries were made about him.
In the next two months Danno plans to pack up his many dusty bottles, his stuffed terrapin, his tiki dolls, the back bar, the wobbly stools, the photos of jazz musicians, politicians, racehorses, and celebrities and move them all to Las Vegas. He owns a bit of property in an industrial park, where he intends to open a bar museum as well as sell his mustards, barbecue and taco sauces, and homemade liqueurs. He says that when his grandchildren reach legal drinking age he might fly them to Nevada to restart the family business. “I’ve got the credentials to go to any hotel. They lease those spots out like they do department stores. It all depends on how I feel. Maybe we’ll get a Bucket going again. It’s very possible.”
