This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Chicago bar to host ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ pop-up
A Chicago bar has announced plans for a festive pop-up based on the 1946 Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life – and it has already sold out.
Fitzgerald’s in Berwyn will transform its bar into the fictional dive bar ‘Nick’s’ in Pottersville, which George Bailey visits when he first meets angel Clarence, every Wednesday in December, with tickets to the events selling out in two hours. Within 24 hours, more than 5,000 people on Facebook had expressed an interest in attending, prompting the bar to limit attendance to 80 per night by RSVP only.
“Nick’s is the bar that exists in the world that George Bailey doesn’t exist in,” the bar explains on the event’s Facebook page. “It’s a juke joint atmosphere, where they “serve hard drinks…. for men who want to get drunk fast.”
The bar will feature cocktails inspired by “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and will have an antique cash register that “gives out wings” when you ring on it, and sing-alongs to Auld Lang Syne and a raffle at the end of the night conducted from a giant wicker basket, as in the movie. At 10pm, there will be a showing of “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the SideBar’s big screen.
“It’s interesting to see how excited people are about this,” said Bill FitzGerald, the bar’s owner, speaking to the Chicago Tribune. “There’s something about that film, the time of year. … I think people are looking for something like this that kind of shows the good side of things.”