It’s almost Bunker Club time and other than the will-they, won’t-they, Tower Theatre, this is the biggest waiting game in town. Long story short: they’re not ready to be open yet, but they’re working on it. Great things take time.

Ian and Hailey McDermid are hands-on owners, proud-parents really. Ian is serving as contractor for Bunker Club and he and Hailey are there every day. Every day. Raise of hands for everyone who’s seen Ian at Lowe’s sometime in the last year. Bunker Club is close. Which means we’re close. Close to popping by for a beer after work. Close to drinking a Bunker Bomb after a Tower Theatre show. Close to drinking a cocktail under the gaze of your favorite communist dictators, including the McDermid’s dog, Chewbacca, reimagined as Che Guevara.Close to having a bar with a built in vinyl DJ booth. Close to having a midpoint bar between the grueling walk from Pump to Savings and Loan and Rockford. 

Inducted into the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. 

Perfectly chilled beer doesn’t happen by accident.  

For now, like the ninth month of pregnancy, Uptown 23rd has to wait and hope, walking the block and peeking in for quick glances while Ian spends his day on the phone with the gas company. What do we do in the meantime? Go watch Dr. Strangelove and Google Karl Marx.

So close. 

Total teamwork.