By Ted Kleine

The North Side of Chicago has been colonized by so many Michiganders that some people now call it "Michago." All immigrants carry their traditions with them, so the Michigan State alumni here have opened several bars. The oldest, and rowdiest, is The Gin Mill.

It’s on North Lincoln Avenue, but it may as well be on Abbott Road. When you walk through the front door, you’re faced with a neon sign that announces "Welcome to East Lansing," and a crowd of 23-year-olds in green t-shirts and curl-brim baseball caps.

The Gin Mill aspires to be a college bar, but last Saturday, during the MSU-NotreDame football game, it was as butt-to-butt crowded as a basement kegger. Everyone isup and about by 1:30 on a football Saturday. They were even pounding Buds and licking salt off their hands for tequila shots, less than 12 hours after Friday
night’s closing time.

The "Star-Spangled Banner" didn’t get much of a rise out of the crowd, but every time MSU scored, the Fight Song blatted over the PA, and every tongue in the bar sang "Fight! Fight! Go, team, fight! Victory for MSU!" By the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, when cornerback Broderick Nelson intercepted a pass to seal the
Spartan victory, green kamikaze shots were lined up on the bar, ready for victory toasts.

"You know what happens when the Spartans win at The Gin Mill!" a bartender bellowed. "We drink! Free shots!"

The Gin Mill is for that phase of a Spartan’s life between off-campus housing and suburbia. Every year, the school’s most ambitious graduates look to the big city. Seeing Detroit 90 miles to the east, they head in the other direction.

The Gin Mill’s general manager, Joe Grimm, states with a bartender’s confidence that there are 40,000 alumni in the Chicago area. Joe Lukeman ran out his four years of eligibility in 1998, but wanted to keep partying, so he moved to Chicago, got a job in sales, got an apartment with an old high school buddy and discovered The Gin Mill.

"You get so many Michigan State people here," Lukeman said as he kept one eye on the football game and the other eye on girls walking past his spot at the bar. He seemed to be acquainted with a lot of them. "You can come to Chicago, hang out with your friends, but meet new people." Next weekend, the bar is organizing a bus trip to Evanston for the MSU-Northwestern game. Grimm has already filled 10 coaches.

"I think this place hit a niche, and hit it at the right time," Grimm said, referring to MSU’s recent sporting sucesses. "We do really well during Michigan State games. We tear it up during football and basketball season." On the March night the Spartans won the NCAA basketball championship, Grimm had to lock the doors to keep the crowds away.

"It was amazing," he remembered. "It was packed elbow to elbow. People were crowd surfing. Girls were stripping on the bar." Grimm sells bumper stickers behind the bar, and he’s tailored his drink menu to East Lansing tastes. You can order the Spartini, a green apple martini with a sugar rim; or the Breslin, a mix of Bacardi, Grand Marnier, pineapple juice and cranberry juice that results in a basketball orange tint.

Most Gin Millers seem to retire at around age 30, when they get married or move on to more sophisticated bars, ones where you can sit down. But every year, Michigan State graduates a new class of customers for the bar. MSU students have choked down tear gas to protect their right to mix sports and alcohol, so it’s not likely The Gin Mill will ever be forced out of business.

"We all have jobs now," said Tom Wardlow, Class of CE 98, "but we come here to try to remember the college days."