Legendary Rockdale bar scene not what it used to be

ROCKDALE – Dick Baum remembers how Rockdale was once packed with bars.

Baum, former Rockdale police chief, was a Joliet police detective in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. During those years, he would frequent the bars in Rockdale along with scores of others who worked in the Caterpillar factory and the now-gone Navy Yards.

The bars would be open all night and Rockdale was “like Las Vegas without the gambling,” he said.

“It is an amazing thing for a town of less than 2,000 people to have 28 or 30 bars,” he said. “And there was a lot of action back in those days, but as years went by, things changed and businesses started not having as many employees and the bars just started closing.”

Several bar owners today see the same thing.

A declining bar scene

According to Rockdale’s historical record, about 40 taverns operated in the area in the 1940s. Now, based on the number of liquor licenses issued, there are only 11 establishments that sell alcohol, said Henry Berry, former Rockdale mayor.

“I think per capita, it was probably the highest number of taverns than a lot of other places,” Berry said.

William Tallman Jr., owner of Bill’s Tavern, operating in Rockdale since the mid-1940s, said the village’s bar scene has not been lively since factories that surrounded the area gradually left and then the “economy went south” in 2008.

“Everybody was making money,” Tallman said about taverns in the past. “We were doing well all those years with that industry. All the bars were doing good.”

Marilyn Goss, one of the owners of Shep's Tavern, said many patrons who came to the bars worked in local factories and railroad companies.

“We don’t see too many of them no more,” she said.

Shep’s Tavern has been in Rockdale for about 81 years and was popular during the 1940s and 1950s, she said. The tavern used to be a candy store that also sold school supplies before it became a bar, she said.

Robert Pekol, senior partner with the almost 70-year-old Syl’s Restaurant and Lounge, said the crowd at Syl’s tends to be middle-aged sports fans. He said Syl’s has done well over the decades because it’s more than a bar.

“We kind of went from a shot and a beer place to somewhat fine dining,” he said.

It wasn’t just local industries leaving or reducing their workforce that led to the decline of Rockdale taverns. The state’s ban on smoking, which became law in 2008, affected business, Berry said.

A rougher bar scene

When it came to the taverns themselves, Berry, who was Rockdale’s mayor for 20 years, did not recall any controversy.

“You get your occasional disturbance,” he said.

However, Tallman and Goss remember the bar scene in the 1940s and 1950s being a rougher time. Goss said she remembered people would get into fights. But in her bar, those patrons would have to leave, no matter who caused it.

“There were fights in the bars and now you don’t see that too much anymore,” Tallman said.

In the late 1970s, Rockdale village officials held a special meeting with residents on a small riot outside a tavern. Police officers attempted to quell a fight outside B&B Tavern, and a crowd threw bottles and rocks at them, according to a 1978 Herald-News article.

Rockdale village trustees ordered police to patrol noisy taverns after the incident.

Pekol remembers the bars being a rough place, as well, with some places having big brawls. Many instigators were not from Rockdale, he said.

“They would come in for a drink from Joliet, so you would inherit drunks,” he said.

A friendlier bar scene

Baum said he suspects another reason bars are not popular in the area is because of DUI laws and more aggressive policing. People are less apt to be out drinking compared to 20 or 30 years ago, he said.

“The people that are running the bars now are pretty well stable,” he said. “They are struggling right now to make a half-way decent living.”

Goss said she’s met wonderful people while working at Shep’s Tavern, including baseball players from Major League teams. Her bar will participate in bowling leagues and hold birthday parties.

People still come to Shep’s Tavern.

“We’re friendly people,” she said.