Billy Goat Tavern

The History

The Billy Goat Tavern was founded in 1934 by William "Billy Goat" Sianis, a Greek immigrant who had arrived in Chicago with virtually nothing. Sianis bought a tavern on West Madison Street near the old Chicago Stadium for $205 — using a check that bounced, according to legend. The bar got its famous name when a goat fell off a passing truck and wandered through the front door. Sianis adopted the animal, grew a goatee to match, and renamed his establishment the Billy Goat Tavern. It was the kind of origin story that could only happen in Chicago.

In 1964, the tavern moved to its now-legendary location on lower Michigan Avenue, tucked beneath the Wrigley Building at street level below the Magnificent Mile. The subterranean spot became the natural watering hole for journalists from the nearby Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times buildings. Reporters, columnists, and editors filed in after deadline, turning the Billy Goat into one of the great newspaper bars in American history. The legendary columnist Mike Royko practically lived there, and the tavern's walls became covered with newspaper clippings, press badges, and photographs of the writers who made it their second home.

But it was a single incident in 1945 that sealed the Billy Goat's place in American folklore. During Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field, Sianis brought his pet goat Murphy to the game. He had purchased two tickets — one for himself and one for the goat. When ushers ejected them because of the goat's odor, Sianis reportedly declared: "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more." The Chicago Cubs lost that World Series to the Detroit Tigers and would not win another for 71 years. The Billy Goat Curse became baseball's most enduring superstition, a piece of Chicago mythology that transcended sports and became part of the city's identity.

What Made It Famous

Two things made the Billy Goat Tavern a national institution: the curse and Saturday Night Live. In 1978, John Belushi — a Chicago native who got his start at Second City — performed a sketch on SNL called "The Olympia Restaurant." In it, Belushi played a short-order cook who barked "Cheezborger! Cheezborger! No fries, chips! No Pepsi, Coke!" at bewildered customers. The sketch was a direct tribute to the Billy Goat Tavern and the real grill cooks, particularly Sam Sianis (William's nephew), who shouted orders at patrons in exactly that manner. The sketch became one of the most quoted bits in SNL history and turned the Billy Goat into a destination for tourists from around the world.

The curse, meanwhile, took on a life of its own. As the Cubs' losing streak extended through the decades — through the 1969 collapse, the 1984 heartbreak, and the Steve Bartman incident in 2003 — the Billy Goat Curse became the default explanation. Sam Sianis made periodic appearances at Wrigley Field with goats, attempting to reverse the hex, but nothing worked. The curse became the subject of books, documentaries, and countless newspaper columns, many of them written by the very journalists who drank at the Billy Goat. When the Cubs finally won the World Series in 2016, ending a 108-year championship drought, the Billy Goat Tavern was one of the first places fans gathered to celebrate.

Beyond the curse and the sketch, the Billy Goat matters because of what it represents: a blue-collar Chicago institution that refused to change. The original lower Michigan Avenue location is cramped, loud, and smells like grilled onions. The double cheeseburgers are greasy and unapologetic. The walls are a museum of Chicago journalism history. In an era of craft cocktail bars and Instagram-ready dining rooms, the Billy Goat remains defiantly, gloriously itself — a place where the city's stories have been told and retold over cheap beer and cheezborgers for nearly a century.

Key Facts

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