Neighborhood News: Chicago Loop’s Berghoff Restaurant vs. Gloria Steinem

DID YOU KNOW…that at one time, women were barred from drinking in bars by local establishments?  As Oktoberfests begin this month, it’s worth exploring how these rules changed…and you wouldn’t believe how recently the changes took place!

Why were women barred? 

Several sources cite social taboos, moral regulations, and fears that female patrons would encourage prostitution or disrupt male-only spaces.  Saloons were treated as rough, masculine territory meant for male bonding.

In the post World War II era, a woman’s place was in the home. In the era of “Mad Men,” a bar was a place where men drank and made deals, and relaxed before before going home.

It took celebrated feminist Gloria Steinem, who passed away last week at the age of 92, to conquer the last holdout in Chicago…the Berghoff Restaurant, in 1969. 

That was 49 years after women achieved the right to vote, through the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and three years before Title IX was ratified. 

“It’s not the proudest point of Berghoff history, but it is part of it,” said Pete Berghoff, fourth-generation owner of The Berghoff, in an NBC5  interview. 

What Took The Berghoff So Long? 

As Chicago History notes in a Facebook post, in 1969, the Berghoff’s “men’s buffet” was one of Chicago’s last strongholds of all-male drinking. 

It’s worth noting that the Berghoff boasted an all-male staff of bartenders and servers as well.

Protests Change Everything 

Chicago History recounts that one night, seven female activists entered the hallowed space, bellied up to the bar, and demanded service. After initial resistance, the staff realized their shaky legal standing and served the Berghoff’s famous beers. They hoped it was just a one-off stunt.

The Berghoff Restaurant “raid” followed a similar raid, led by feminist Betty Friedan(“The Feminine Mystique “) on the Oak Room of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. According to the JStor Daily.com website, like many other hotel bars and restaurants, the Plaza excluded women during weekday lunch hours, from noon until three, so as not distract the businessmen from their deal-making.

According to JStor Daily, the action was part of a coordinated, nationwide effort by feminist organizers. During “Public Accommodations Week,” groups of activists from the National Organization for Women(NOW), staged “eat-ins” and “drink-ins” to protest the bans on women in public establishments. Feminists framed the issue of male-only accommodations as a civil rights violation, akin to racial segregation, calling them “Jane Crow” laws. 

In November 1969, a much larger “raid” on the Berghoff followed, led by Steinem. 

The Chicago History Facebook site said the male Berghoff staff, thinking themselves clever, was ready to turn the other cheek with “several smiling waiters eager to serve [the women].” “We stole their thunder,” the manager boasted, thinking he had won the battle. But with 20 women now drinking Dortmunders under the saloon age sign, it was clear the women had won the war.

Today: The Impact of Lifting Bar Bans

Lifting the ban on women in bars was catalytic in its impact. As The Guardian stated, the move normalized mixed-gender spaces, as public drinking shifted from an exclusively male domain to integrated social territory.  

It also dismantled the “Protective Patriarchy,”  as Rachel Hewitt’s Substack notes, documents used to exclude women (claiming bars were morally corrupting or dangerous) were legally dismantled as paternalistic excuses for discrimination. 

And most importantly, it offered access to employment. JSTOR Daily.com also points to the move leading to repealing bans on female bartenders opened viable economic citizenship and career paths for women in the hospitality workforce. Venues actively welcomed female patrons and staff, recognizing that integrated spaces increased overall economic vitality and altered marketing strategies. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago