The Cat Makes a Phone Call
“If it’s my wife, tell her I left 15 minutes ago!” Vintage picture of Billy “Goat” Sianis and his cat (“Ruby”?)
Our First Bouncer was a Check.
According to legend, in 1934, Billy Goat Tavern was opened by a good man with a bad check. Like many of the stories that surround the Billy Goat, the tale of how Billy Goat Sianis comes to own the tavern and it’s three story building is massaged into myth by imaginative reporters told and retold…
Happy Columbus Day!
One was a bold Mediterranean explorer who came to the New World to seek his fortune. The other was Christopher Columbus.
The First Food & Liquor License on the Moon
Shortly after the Apollo Moon Landing, Billy Goat Sianis petitioned the U.S. Secretary of State for the first food and liquor license on the moon. Here’s the original letter. The text is typed below the picture. What follows is classic Billy Goat fun! March 5, 2025 The Honorable William P. Rogers, United States Secretary of…
The True Story of Billy Goat Sianis from PBS
Billy Goat Tavern - PBS from Paul Leone on Vimeo.
Come in we’ll save you a seat!
We’ve been blowing the lids off Chicago since 1934!
Remembering the Original Billy Goat Tavern
The happiest and healthiest person in Wise Guy’s corner is also the one who has been here the longest. Bob Borgstrom says, “When I was a teenager we’d go to hockey games at the Stadium, and between periods we’d sneak over to the original Goat. People were always four or five deep at the bar,…
The Stories of Billy “Goat” Sianis
Most days Billy “Goat” Sianis summons a favored few pals to his table in the V.I.P (Very Insecure People) Room. And, as old men do, he tells stories of the past, of his boyhood in Greece, and wild times on Madison Street. These are stores those at the table know well. Most of then have…
The Original Billy Goat Tavern
“It was tough on Billy at first. That first year he must have gone through 25 bartenders. All of them were stealing. That’s why he used to sit in a high chair right by the stairs with that kid’s hammer that squeaked and that he used to bang on anybody he saw staring at the…
The Story of the Original Billy Goat
One morning in the early summer of 1934, a baby goat falls off a truck traveling east on Madison Street. Dazed and limping, it wanders into the Lincoln Tavern. Sianis sees the goat and sends one of his waiters out to get a baby bottle. While he is feeding the goat, a lawyer sitting at…