St. Patrick's Day In Chicago

River North in Chicago is a hotbed of drunkenness every St. Patrick's day, and this year is no exception. The sun is shining but the wind is blowing and it seems likely to get damn cold for tonight.

The first photo is Fado, an Irish bar that is packed top to bottom for St. Patrick's day. This photo shows the line at about noon... in prior years I have gone by at 8am in the morning and the line was down the street and 2 hours long. In fact, I don't know how they even measure the "line time" since someone has to leave the bar before anyone new comes in, and no one was leaving.

The bottom photo is in front of Rock Bottom where two lunatics are dressed in old-school Celtic outfits and playing a bit of b-ball. Love the green high tops.

Other bars also have the old standby of porta-johns set up out front; this is probably more popular than ever since people now have to smoke outside.

Finally, the scheduling of St. Paddy's day is a godsend for bar owners; as you can see it is already hopping for Saturday and Sunday will be more of the same, while Monday will also be nuts. Three days of solid profitability for bar owners in River North...