Formerly: N.N. Club Members Only (basement speakeasy, 1929–1933)
Chicago, Illinois · Founded 1934
An Andersonville bar legally opened in 1934 after a basement speakeasy, known for Swedish glögg, a storied mural, and a long-running ghost reputation.
Simon's Tavern became a legally licensed bar in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood in May 1934 under Swedish immigrant Simon Lundberg. Its basement had earlier operated as the N.N. Club Members Only speakeasy from 1929 to 1933. The bar remains open at 5210 North Clark Street under owner Scott Martin, whose stewardship has preserved its Swedish-American character and signature seasonal glögg.
The basement of the Clark Street building housed an illegal Prohibition-era speakeasy called N.N. Club Members Only, which operated from 1929 to 1933.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
Simon Lundberg converted the business into Simon's Tavern, a legally licensed bar serving Chicago's Swedish Andersonville community.
Source: WTTW, “Simon’s Tavern Turns 90,” Aug. 6, 2024; Block Club Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern Celebrates 90 Years,” May 22, 2024
A group photograph was taken at a Deer Hunters Ball held at Simon's Tavern. The photograph later became the basis for the large mural known as The Deer Hunters Ball.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
According to Scott Martin's account, artist and author Sigurd F. Olson began creating a wall painting from the 1949 Deer Hunters Ball photograph; the work reportedly took six years.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
According to Scott Martin's account, the Deer Hunters Ball mural was completed and given to Simon's Tavern.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
Roy Lundberg took over Simon's Tavern from his father, Simon Lundberg.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern Celebrates 90 Years,” May 22, 2024
Scott Martin bought Simon's Tavern from Roy Lundberg, becoming the bar's third owner and the first outside the Lundberg family.
Source: WTTW, “Simon’s Tavern Turns 90,” Aug. 6, 2024; Block Club Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern Celebrates 90 Years,” May 22, 2024; Edible Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern: A 90-Year Legacy of Nordic Tradition,” Dec. 5, 2023
Simon’s marked its 80th year during Andersonville’s Midsommarfest and was named one of America’s Most Haunted Bars by Travel + Leisure, documenting media recognition of its ghost reputation rather than paranormal activity.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
Simon's Tavern marked 90 years as a legally licensed Andersonville bar in spring 2024.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern Celebrates 90 Years,” May 22, 2024; WTTW, “Simon’s Tavern Turns 90,” Aug. 6, 2024
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Block Club Chicago identifies the basement operation as N.N. Club Members Only and dates it to 1929–1933. WTTW and Block Club's 2024 anniversary coverage likewise say Simon's operated as an illegal basement speakeasy before becoming legally licensed in May 1934.
WTTW and Block Club Chicago both report that Simon Lundberg opened or converted Simon's into a legally licensed bar in May 1934. The candidate's March 15 date was not supported by the sources reviewed.
Multiple accounts identify Martin as the current owner and say he bought the tavern from Roy Lundberg in 1994, becoming the first owner outside the Lundberg family.
Simon Lundberg founded the legal tavern and Roy Lundberg later ran it, but Scott Martin bought Simon's in 1994 and is not a Lundberg family member. The bar has a long continuous cultural lineage, not continuous Lundberg-family ownership.
Scott Martin told Block Club Chicago that artist and author Sigurd F. Olson created the mural from a 1949 Deer Hunters Ball photograph, worked on it for six years, and gave it to the tavern in 1956. This account corrects the candidate's unsupported 1950 Walli attribution, but it has not been independently checked against the artist's papers or a historic-art inventory.
Block Club Chicago documents decades of neighborhood rumor, reported sightings of a woman's spirit, claimed cold sensations in the former speakeasy basement, and folklore connected to the mural. This documents the public reputation and stories, not the reality of paranormal phenomena.
The mural-centered ghost story is repeated in local media and paranormal tourism, but no historical, scientific, or independently corroborated evidence establishes that a ghost is present or that mural figures change. It belongs in the entry as clearly labeled folklore.
Simon's Tavern legally opened on March 15, 1934.
The sources reviewed identify May 1934 as the date Simon Lundberg converted Simon's into a legally licensed bar. This review did not locate support for the candidate's March 15 date.
Source: WTTW, “Simon’s Tavern Turns 90,” Aug. 6, 2024; Block Club Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern Celebrates 90 Years,” May 22, 2024
Simon's Tavern began as a legal street-level tavern or a Simon's speakeasy in 1927.
The basement operation identified in the strongest source was N.N. Club Members Only, an illegal speakeasy that ran from 1929 to 1933. Simon's Tavern became a legally licensed bar in May 1934.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018; WTTW, “Simon’s Tavern Turns 90,” Aug. 6, 2024
The north-wall mural was painted by an artist named Walli in 1950.
Owner Scott Martin identifies the mural as The Deer Hunters Ball, says it was based on a 1949 bar photograph, attributes it to artist and author Sigurd F. Olson, and says it took six years to complete before being given to the tavern in 1956. This account remains plausible rather than independently archive-verified.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
Simon's Tavern remains continuously owned by the Lundberg family.
Simon Lundberg founded the licensed tavern, and his son Roy later ran it, but Scott Martin bought the business in 1994. Simon's preserves its Swedish-American history but is not presently a Lundberg-family-owned business.
Source: WTTW, “Simon’s Tavern Turns 90,” Aug. 6, 2024; Block Club Chicago, “Simon’s Tavern Celebrates 90 Years,” May 22, 2024
The mural ghost story has been documented in Chicago media since the early 2000s.
The earliest dated written source located in this review is Block Club Chicago's October 31, 2018 article, which says the rumor had circulated for decades. No earlier dated press or ghost-guide source was independently located.
Source: Block Club Chicago, “The Haunting of Simon’s Tavern,” Oct. 31, 2018
Simon's survived by making Andersonville’s Swedish heritage an active part of a working neighborhood bar rather than a museum display. The legal tavern followed a basement speakeasy, passed from Simon Lundberg to his son Roy, and then to Scott Martin in 1994. Martin preserved the bar’s familiar rituals—especially its winter glögg—while allowing it to remain useful to a changing neighborhood; that continuity of atmosphere is stronger than any claim of unchanged ownership or untouched interior fabric.
Simon's Tavern became a legally licensed bar in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood in May 1934 under Swedish immigrant Simon Lundberg. Before that, the basement housed an illegal speakeasy called N.N. Club Members Only from 1929 to 1933. Simon’s later passed to Lundberg’s son Roy in 1970 and to current owner Scott Martin in 1994, while retaining its Swedish glögg tradition and neighborhood-bar identity.
Simon's Tavern is a long-running Chicago bar that became legally licensed in 1934, but this review does not establish it as Chicago's oldest bar or oldest continuously operating tavern. No citywide comparison of older saloons, taverns, hotel bars, clubs, and restaurant bars was conducted. Its documented distinction is its Swedish-American Andersonville history and its transition from a named Prohibition speakeasy to a licensed 1934 tavern.
The earliest dated source located in this review is Block Club Chicago's October 31, 2018 report, which says a ghost rumor had circulated at Simon's Tavern for decades. The article recounts stories of a woman’s spirit in the basement and a legend connected to the Deer Hunters Ball mural. This review did not locate an earlier dated newspaper, ghost guide, police record, or oral-history transcript showing when the stories first entered the written record.
The Deer Hunters Ball is a large mural at Simon’s Tavern that, according to owner Scott Martin, was based on a 1949 photograph of a party held at the bar. Martin told Block Club Chicago that artist and author Sigurd F. Olson began the work in 1950, spent six years painting it, and gave it to the tavern in 1956. The mural later became central to the bar’s ghost lore, but the paranormal story remains unverified.
Scott Martin owns Simon's Tavern. He bought the Andersonville bar from Roy Lundberg in 1994, making him the third owner and the first outside the Lundberg family that founded the licensed tavern in 1934. The exact legal entity and property ownership structure were not established in this review.
5210 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 878-0894
Simon's is in Andersonville at 5210 N. Clark St. Its signature Swedish-style glögg is a seasonal draw; current hours and events can change, so confirm them directly before visiting.