Polka Music, Comfort Food, a Sense of Belonging: Stanley's Keeps

Anyone who has read "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson or "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, knows that Chicago was once the “Hog Butcher for the World” thanks to the Union Stock Yards and meatpacking plants nestled next to the railroads. Stanley Kurek, a Polish immigrant, first opened Stanley’s in 1924. Stanley’s was a place for stockyard workers to come in, get a meal, and cash their paycheck. Two remnants of this storied past can still be seen today. The first is the limestone Union Stock Yard Gate, a National Historic Landmark, designed by White City architects Burnham and Root, and located on Exchange Avenue at Peoria Street. The second, a true hidden gem, is Stanley’s on Ashland, a tavern/restaurant located along what was once called Whiskey Row, the boozy corridor where men would go for a drink after a long hard day working in the stockyards.

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