Lincoln Square restaurant seeks to end 117-year old local ban on liquor sales

CHICAGO (CBS) — For 117 years, a tiny part of the Lincoln Square neighborhood has banned alcohol sales, meaning stores and restaurants can’t get liquor licenses, but voters next month could change that.
A Lincoln Square restaurant owner has led the push to eliminate a 1907 law that has kept the 9th Precinct in the 47th Ward “dry” while neighboring parts of the ward have remained wet.
Lucia Herrejon sets the tables ahead of the lunch rush at XOchimilco Mexican Restaurant in Lincoln Square, but there’s one thing she can’t bring out just yet – booze.
“We’ve had guests walk out when they realize, like, ‘Oh, you don’t have margaritas,'” said Herrejon, who owns the restaurant with her husband.
They opened as a BYOB business in 2018, but decided to apply for a liquor license last year, hoping alcohol sales would add some stability to their bottom line after the pandemic and inflation took a toll on profit margins.
“I didn’t think anything was going to come up. It was, you know, inspectors came out that day, everything went fine. We passed with everything and then we get a phone call,” Herrejon said. “It was John, our attorney, letting us know that he had received an email from the [liquor control] commissioner, letting him know that this area had been voted dry.”
The 9th Precinct of the 47th Ward was “voted dry” in 1907, pre-dating Prohibition, and has remained “dry” ever since.
The precinct is less than half a mile across in each direction. A restaurant at the end of the same block and across the street from XOchimilco sells alcohol, and Herrejon said if a restaurant opened directly across the street, they would be eligible as well.
XOchimilco sits north of Montrose Avenue – the dry carve-out extending only blocks in either direction, likely because of century-old concerns over a plan for Welles Park.
“My understanding is that there were conversations at the turn of the 20th century about putting in place a German beer hall, and maybe some sort of carnival or theme park on or near Welles Park,” said Ald. Matt Martin (47th).
Martin said he was surprised to see the law still on the books, and believes repealing the prohibition would help businesses in the ward.
“Another prospective business, a Small Cheval which wants to move in, was planning to move in just down the block. Both said they really need to have on-site consumption in order to have viable businesses, whether it’s to sustain business or to move in,” Martin said.
Herrejon said she’ll be watching results on the referendum on election night, hoping the restaurant’s BYOB signs will soon be a sign of times gone by.
“Oh yeah, definitely, it’s going to be nerve-wracking,” Herrejon said.
Voters in the 9th Precinct of the 47th Ward will be asked if the alcohol ban should stay in place, so voters who want to get rid of the ban should vote No.
Lincoln Square isn’t alone in this quirk of having a “dry” part of the neighborhood. It turns out there are small pockets all over Chicago that – for one reason or another – still prohibit the sale of alcohol. Like in Lincoln Square’s case, it would take approval of voters at the ballot box to change that.