I lived in Lando Place at that time. Halloween on 6th was a wild time.
Champaign-Urbana restaurants & bars
Monical's is tavern style. Whenever I come back to ECI, a visit to Monical's and Papa Del's is always high on the list. Still some of the tastiest pizza anywhere, imo.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
was that where Bono’s was ??
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
Vito & Nick's - yes. Any time
The soul evolves as the people do. If the students are happy, it’s soul is still strong.
We are now the children of the past sending greetings.
That was the day Zorba's closed
Bono’s or Boni’s was right below our apartment #206. It may have closed by 1977, when I moved in. Second Chance was across the street but later burned down. A guy dressed like an Oz flying monkey climbed the tree under our window on Halloween. Big street party!
My buddy always had the best Halloween costumes. The year we lost to Michigan on Chris White partially blocked field goal that hit the cross bar, he went as "The Ghost of Chris White" with costume of a goal post and nerf football taped to his forehead. What a night watching people trying to kick beer cups, cans....you name it, through his uprights on Green St until wee hours of the morning! A great time to be a student at the U of I!!
Could be. I'd heard my home-town Monical's changed their sauce recipe, and the current pizzas are slightly less great than the ones I remember growing up.
Nothing says soulful local character like Target and Taco Bell. Actually it's not so much the businesses - there still looks to be local places around - it's the woeful lack of character/soul in the new buildings. But that's a problem everywhere.
Is that you pruman?
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
And Bombay Bicycle Club.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Sorry to say , but no that's not me..........Some smooth sageful thoughts from IllinoisVarsssssssity.........poetry in motion with subliminal prose to make the mind expand............good post , it really really is.....................
It was still open in 77/78. Still using this, not filled with beer though. What was the hot dog place that was in there? Pretty good in my memory.
Attachments
I didn't remember about 79/80. I had progressed (regressed?) to hanging out at Murphys or the Illini Inn by that time.
Murthy’s was home bar for Metallurgical Engineers in ‘77-78. I had a Prof adjourn his class there once. Another time the bartender called out “phone call for any metallurgist” and half the place raised their hands. Good memories.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
I have two good memories of Murphys
1. my dad drove me down on a Sat morning in April 79 for math/science testing as I was admitted and enrolling in August . He met me by the Alma Mater at 11:30 and said “ Hey , i’ve been walking around campus for 3 hours and found a joint we can have lunch” He had stumbled upon Murphys at 11 when it opened and had a couple beers waiting for me . we had a couple more and a Murphy burger before we drove the 2 hrs back home
2. I played rugby with the club team a couple years . team was full of grad students from all corners of the british empire world with guys who spoke english but with various accents .
One Thursday night about 5-6 guys were totally nude and would “ barracuda” girls on their arse with their jaws . it was not cool with a couple gals and the dudes were kicked out by the cops . not arrested , but thrown out . it was an ongoing thing most weeks .
1. my dad drove me down on a Sat morning in April 79 for math/science testing as I was admitted and enrolling in August . He met me by the Alma Mater at 11:30 and said “ Hey , i’ve been walking around campus for 3 hours and found a joint we can have lunch” He had stumbled upon Murphys at 11 when it opened and had a couple beers waiting for me . we had a couple more and a Murphy burger before we drove the 2 hrs back home
2. I played rugby with the club team a couple years . team was full of grad students from all corners of the british empire world with guys who spoke english but with various accents .
One Thursday night about 5-6 guys were totally nude and would “ barracuda” girls on their arse with their jaws . it was not cool with a couple gals and the dudes were kicked out by the cops . not arrested , but thrown out . it was an ongoing thing most weeks .
ILLINIShox24
Orange Krush '04 & '05
Just ate at Murphy's for the first time in 20 years. Fantastic "Dirty Bird" sandwich (grilled chicken breast, bacon, cheddar) and really good fries. Highly recommend.
Sounds like their kids ended up at Northwestern.
Do you know what year this photo was from? I might be in that picture.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
(This is obviously just my opinion.)
While this is SORT OF true, there are still objective things in this world. In this context, "soul" seems to be referring to a unique charm and "local" feel to Green Street - the idea that it is uniquely charming in the context of Champaign and the University of Illinois. Even just since 2014 or so when I first took my friends out bar hopping there, I do think it has lost much of this charm. It's not like a high rise here or there is going to ruin the vibe immediately, but it has also lost some bars with unique layouts like Firehaus and Brothers, too. It definitely has less of a "local" feel and more of a "generic" or "chain" feel.
Don't get me wrong ... still love it, and there are still some absolute classics like Legends and Murphy's. It could just afford to have another cool little pub or locally owned restaurant or something, IMO.
Jeez, Fighter, I'm old enough to remember when Legends was the the new upstart and what the heck did they do to Deluxe?
Guess it's time to get one of these and yell at the kids on my lawn...
Won't argue with you. My kids are all more than 10 years removed from college. My only experience with how various campustowns have changed is only with UIUC. Even when my kids, whose college years ranged from 2003-2013, the campuses we visited (and they attended) all had their own character. Some big schools, some small schools. Some campustowns felt similar to my 1970s through 1990s UIUC, some had lacked character comepletely. My question to anybody that was very familiar with other bigtime college towns (various Big10 for example) and how they look and feel now? Is the transformation we have seen with UIUC campustown common around the country or was this unique for some reason?