FitzGerald's nightclub in Chicago's west suburbs named to historic places registry
BERWYN, Ill. (CBS) -- An old and revered music venue and nightclub in west suburban Berwyn has received the distinction of being added to the National Register of Historic Places.
FitzGerald's, at 6615 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Berwyn, opened in its current form 44 years ago last month. But nearly as long as there has been a Berwyn, Illinois, there has been a music venue at that very spot on Roosevelt Road.
"FitzGerald's is a truly historic nightclub," said owner Will Duncan. "It's a music lover's paradise."
Duncan and Jess King have been caretakers of FitzGerald's for the past five years—which Duncan pointed out makes them "relatively new owners in the scheme of this place."
They are invested in the venue's future, so they have held onto pieces of its past. King showed CBS News Chicago some poster boards showing its history dating back to an earlier incarnation when the venue was known as the Hunt Club.
One item for the Hunt Club advertises an appearance by The Salty Dogs jazz ensemble for a pre-Christmas party—and features a phone number from back in the days where phone numbers started with letters and mnemonics for telephone exchanges—"GUnderson 4-9803."
"I've looked at this over and over for two years," King said.
The FitzGerald's website notes that the Hunt Club—so named because the building had its start as a hunting lodge in the early decades of the 20th century—also hosted trombonist and bandleader Turk Murphy, trumpeter Bob Scobey, and pianist and bandleader Lil Hardin Armstrong. The Hunt Club later became the Deer Lodge, which the FitzGerald's website says featured pool tables and a fortune teller.
King found an old photo of the music venue when it was the Deer Lodge, and shared it on social media.
"It had a lot of engagement," she said.
Curious to learn more, King took a trip to the library and traveled back in time. She found newspaper ads dating back to the 1930s, revealing that FitzGerald's has always been a hub for music—and memorable stories.
"Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, a member of Al Capone's gang, chose what is now FitzGerald's as his hangout spot. And in addition to the Hunt Club and the Deer Lodge, what is now FitzGerald's was also known for a while as Richard Smith's Sea Food Restaurant—which has lore associated with it that sounds like it the kind of story CBS Chicago ghost hunter Tony Szabelski tells.
"The owner of the restaurant was running around trying to chase rats in the basement and accidentally shot his own hand off," King said, "and there's record of it. There's a newspaper article."
It is all history that King and Duncan believe is worth preserving—so they applied to the National Register of Historic Places.
"And then we heard from the National Park Service last week," King said.
FitzGerald's nightclub is the first music venue or nightclub in Illinois to be added to the list.
"It's not listed for its architectural value, and it's not listed because there's really any famous names that are associated with the place," said King. "It's listed for its place and its value in the community."
FitzGerald's is a fixture in Berwyn, where it has been and will always be.
