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This is the last weekend that Gunther Murphy’s, 1638 W. Belmont, will be a live-music venue. Co-owner Pat Mooney (who also owns the Abbey Pub) says that he and his partners simply needed to make a business decision. “We were struggling,” he says. “We need to get a kitchen back in there, and there’s no room to do it now.” Construction on a three-flat next door also revealed repair work that needs to be done to the building’s foundation. “It’s a shame,” Mooney says. “We have a PPA and a tavern license, and a lot of people are trying to get those. It’ll be turning into a restaurant, and we may try and do something very limited with music, but not the way it is now. I don’t even know if I’m going to be involved. It’s a shame.”
Mooney sounded a bit dejected about it all, and it made me sad too. I liked Gunther Murphy’s, with its front bar and back room, even if I suspect that part of the reason I liked it was that it was so often—I will try to put this tactfully—spacious. Breathable. Lots of, er, liebensraum. It was a friendly and comfortable place, even if it never established much of a strong identity as a music venue, unlike its big sibling the Abbey.
