About Old Chicago
Bringing Back What Made Us Who We Are
Chicago wasn't built by the timid. It was built by the John Korompilas types who came from Greece with nothing and opened ice cream parlors that lasted 76 years. By the Matt Schuliens who turned a family restaurant into the world's first magic bar, making beer steins disappear while keeping a business alive for nearly a century.
Old Chicago started with a simple truth: The best of this city didn't survive. The places that made Chicago Chicago — they're parking lots now. Shopping centers. Empty lots with historical markers nobody reads.
But here's what kills us: These weren't just businesses. Schulien's didn't just serve German food — they invented the American tradition of close-up magic, where the miracle happened inches from your face, no stage required. The Mills Novelty Company didn't just make slot machines — they invented the entire concept of coin-operated entertainment. The Royal Gardens didn't just host dances — it's where a kid named Louis Armstrong joined King Oliver and jazz stopped being regional and became universal.
We're not selling nostalgia. We're selling respect. For the German families who kept magic alive while serving sauerbraten for four generations. For the Greek families who fed the city from marble soda fountains. For the Black musicians who created America's only original art form in venues they couldn't even enter through the front door.
This is Chicago Before It Got Polite
Before corporations. Before committees. When a German immigrant could open a candy store with Lincoln's deathbed in it. When every neighborhood had its own ice cream parlor dynasty. When magicians did miracles at your dinner table, not on some distant stage. When you could hear jazz floating down State Street at 2 AM and nobody called the cops because the cops were inside listening too — probably watching some guy make their badge disappear and reappear in a beer stein.
These designs aren't reproductions — they're resurrections. Every piece is based on real places, real people, real Chicago stories inspired by abandoned, defunct, and nostalgic businesses that were bedrock of the city and community. We use actual logos when we can find them, actual stories always, actual pride in what this city was before it forgot.
Some cities preserve their past. Chicago? We wear ours.
Made in Chicago. For Chicago. People die, and times change, but legends never do.