Twisted Spoke bar is closing after 30 years in West Town

A beloved biker-themed bar and restaurant in West Town announced Tuesday that it will close after three decades in business.

Twisted Spoke, 501 N. Ogden Ave., will close Aug. 31, said co-owner Mitch Einhorn, who runs the business with his brother, Cliff.

The owners made the announcement in a social media post, saying, “Everything dies. Bars, rock’n’roll, reputations — even the hard men who built them. After 30 years of blood, grease, and bourbon, Twisted Spoke is grinding to a halt.”

Mitch Einhorn told the Sun-Times that a variety of factors contributed to the “difficult decision” he made to close the bar, with the main reason was the rising costs across the industry that made it increasingly tough to consistently operate. He also noted that the bar’s lease expires at the end of the month.

“Things change. Time evolves. People get older,” Einhorn, 63, said. “...The tastes of what people are looking for in terms of a gastropub have changed. There wasn’t a gastropub 30 years ago, I mean, it didn’t exist.”

The bar was long known for its late-night food service — open until 2 a.m. weeknights and 3 a.m. on weekends, which in recent years has not drawn as large of crowds, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People’s tastes and desires seem to have moved on where late-night business just seemed to evaporate,” Einhorn added.

It was also easily recognized at the corner of Ogden and Grand avenues with a prop skeleton sitting atop a motorcycle on the bar’s roof, adjacent to its outdoor rooftop seating.

Draped in rusted metal sheets and a large sign portraying motorcyclists driving on an open country road, Twisted Spoke drew tourists, regulars and countless bourbon connoisseurs and well-known distillers, such as Elmer T. Lee, Julian Van Winkle and Jimmy Russell.

“They’d all come and hang out at the Twisted Spoke and, you know, it didn’t used to be a big deal. It was just like, oh, these are guys who are making really cool spirits and hanging out in a bar, which seems completely natural,” Einhorn said.

He and his brother, who is 62, will continue to co-own Lush Wine & Spirits in Roscoe Village and West Town, Einhorn said.

He’s unsure what else the future will bring, other than “Four more Whiskey Wednesday’s (and) Four more rooftop Sunday brunches with the sun frying your brain like an egg on asphalt.

“It’s certainly a sad day for us,” Einhorn said. “You spend three decades working on something, when you finally decide to close it down, it’s never easy. But, you know, we’ve had amazing customers over the last 30 years. I met my wife there. I believe many other people have met their spouses there.”