For a long time, that distinction belonged to Schaller’s Pump, the Bridgeport tavern and Daley hangout that dated back to 1881. But when it closed in 2017, Marge’s Still in Old Town inherited the title.

Marge’s opened in 1885 as Victor Caruso’s Soft Drinks, a combination bar and barbershop, two masculine institutions under one roof. During Prohibition, Victor Caruso’s remained open as a soda fountain, but it was actually a speakeasy whose owners distilled gin in bathtubs upstairs. Patrons entered through the staircase attached to the side of the building. In 1957, the bar was purchased by Marge Landeck, the first woman in Chicago to obtain a liquor license. According to the book Oldest Chicago, she was “a chain-smoking, tough-talking bar owner who had no problem tossing drunks out herself.”

After Landeck died in 2001, Pam and Andreas Antoniou bought the bar and gave it its current name, a play on its gin mill past and a tribute to its former owner. Since Old Town is no longer the bohemian neighborhood of Landeck’s day, the couple gentrified the menu — you can still get a burger, but there’s also grilled salmon — and renovated the space, though parts of the mirrored bar predate even Marge. A final touch honoring bygone times: a photo of Marge, with a Santa hat dangling from the frame.

Send your questions about the Chicago area to emcclelland@chicagomag.com.