“Punkin’ Donuts” and Ohter Nuisances
Almost from the start, Medusa’s had outspoken critics. They included neighborhood residents and business owners, as well as the newly elected 44th Ward alderman, Bernie Hansen. Most complaints cited noisy patrons loitering around nearby establishments, among them the Dunkin’ Donuts at Clark and Belmont, dubbed “Punkin’ Donuts” by locals. In 1985, Hansen accompanied the fire marshal and police on a raid, ostensibly to investigate overcrowding, that forced the nightspot to close temporarily. Two years later, after Medusa’s was named one of the country’s top 10 dance clubs by USA Today, a city ordinance took effect requiring “juice bars” to close at 2 a.m. on Fridays and 3 a.m. on Saturdays. Shelton responded by focusing even more on teenage customers, a circumstance that suited him just fine: “We went home earlier, and I made more money.”
Bernie Hansen
Former 44th Ward alderman
I was not a big fan of Mr. Shelton and Medusa’s at all. I had instances of running into people, young kids, who were coming out of Medusa’s, and I saw the reaction to them and the people that were hanging around peddling drugs and all that stuff. I didn’t want it in the ward.
Shelton
I would be nervous making sure we were doing things right. Dispersing crowds, picking up trash, and making sure we were doing whatever they asked us to do. This was a relatively new license we had, and they didn’t really know what to put it under. I basically asked for a nightclub license without liquor.
Pittsley
The first few months had actually been very peaceful. Dave complied readily with Bernie’s requests, and he and Bernie seemed happy. As long as we kept ourselves in line, we never thought we would have any problems. But kids would park three or four blocks away, and they would make noise on the way to their cars, and people started bitching about it to the alderman. So Bernie went to Dave and said, “Look, I’m getting complaints from the neighbors. All of these people own property here, and we have to achieve peace.” And, of course, we were younger then, and Dave’s attitude was like, “Screw that!”
Murphy
Medusa’s was a culture that could be shocking to people who were really square, who weren’t exposed to gays and punks and goths—people who dressed theatrically. They looked like scary freaks, and nobody likes things that scare them.
A Chicago police officer
(From the Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1986)
It’s the same old story. Ninety percent of ’em are spoiled little rich kids from the suburbs—all the money in the world, and nothing to do with it. So they flock to the city with their orange hair and their war-painted faces.
Paul Kendall
Then president of the Lake View Citizens’ Council (from the Chicago Tribune, December 4, 1985)
If they’re on the street in leather and a mohawk, they’re going to Medusa’s. These kids line up on the street. They take over the whole block, smoking dope, throwing bottles, drinking and urinating on the street and making a lot of noise when people are trying to sleep.
Michelli
We thought it was a bit hypocritical for a neighborhood that regularly had thousands of obnoxious, rowdy Cubs fans wandering around long after the games finished, exiting the local sports bars wasted and urinating on properties willy-nilly. But there was no outcry for legislating against that. The double standard was very much in play.
Fields
We were no different than Metro or any other place where young kids were going for entertainment. But [Hansen] was just against us. He had a personal grudge against Dave.
Bristol
Bernie used to incite the residents. Everything that was happening in the neighborhood, he blamed on Medusa’s—even though it wasn’t necessarily true.
Michelli
We all thought it was a bit of overkill for a juice bar full of goofy kids that looked vaguely scary and dangerous to locals. Many of us, including myself, felt the alderman was grandstanding in a pathetic attempt to further his own career.
Francis
He was the biggest asshole ever. He was going to do everything he could possibly do to get us out of there.
Bristol
They’d come in and tell us to shut the music off, and the fire marshal would look for violations and shut the club down for the night. There were times when they couldn’t find anything, so we’d turn the music back on and keep going.
Hansen
Shelton was a very slick operator. He always managed to get out of whatever bind he was in. I don’t know who he had going for him, but it sure wasn’t me.
BJ Sanabria
Bouncer
We took shots from Bernie, we took shots from the city, and I’m thinking, When’s the knockout punch coming?
The Beginning of the End
Despite the legal challenges and raids, the popularity of Medusa’s only grew, boosted in August 1990 when the MTV alternative-music program 120 Minutes shot a segment at the club. What would shut Medusa’s down two years later wasn’t so much a knockout punch as a squeeze play.
Pittsley
Once we survived City Hall’s attempt to put us out of business by restricting our hours, it was evident that business was booming, and we settled into a truce of sorts. The neighbors were happy because their streets were quiet by 3:30 a.m., which was workable for them. We took a much less adversarial stance toward them and perhaps even cultivated their goodwill to some degree. Bernie cooled his jets, too. I don’t remember his office giving us too much grief the last few years. I know he was very pleased once he knew the end date for the lease was in sight.
Shelton
I had no intentions of closing. I had discussions on extending the lease or buying from the developer, but it was made clear to him that he would have difficulty getting future developments through if that happened.
“Best Job I've Ever Had”
Faced with his landlord’s refusal to sell the building or even renew the lease, Shelton decided to close the club. On June 19 and 20, 1992, Medusa’s hosted its final public dance parties and, after private bashes for friends and staff, shut its doors for good a week or so later. In November 1992, Shelton opened a club of the same name in the former Congress Theater building on Milwaukee Avenue, but it closed less than two years later. In 1997, he launched a Medusa’s in Elgin that’s still around today, though the suburban club’s cachet has never approached that of the original.
Tom Hemingway
Art director
I still credit it as one of the best jobs I ever had. Dave really allowed people to be themselves and to be creative. Curley I cannot stress enough the impact that Dave and Medusa’s had on nightlife in general. It was the first place ever to do a lot of the stuff it was doing, and it had a profound impact well after it closed. I have been working for nightclubs ever since then, and you can still feel the reverberations.
Pittsley
Dave never thought of himself as a businessman. He never thought of himself as someone who could come up with a plan, sustain it, and then grow it. Medusa’s became a business after the fact. It happened without us even knowing it.
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