Marie's Rip Tide Lounge To Close Permanently Saturday
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Aug 27, 2013 6:20PM
When we last checked in on Marie’s Riptide Lounge supporters of the Bucktown dive were trying to raise funds to keep the bar open. That was in January.
DNAInfo Chicago reports Marie’s Riptide Lounge will close Aug. 31. (Or when the liquor runs out, if a post on the bar’s Facebook page means anything.) It turns out Tina Congenie, Marie’s longtime manager who took over operations after owner and namesake Marie Wuczynski passed away in Feb. 2011, took a $150,000 loan from a friend to keep the doors open. That was in addition to the $120,000 she had to pay Wuczynski’s heirs for the business after they contested the will.
Congenie plans to sell the building to her next door neighbors, contractors Bulley & Andrews, for $2 million. She told DNAInfo she plans to use the money to find a new place to live and pay off the loan she accepted from the friend.
"I was just financially not making it. I did not want to sell. I wanted to keep it going, but all good things come to an end," Congenie said.
Congenie said a huge blowout including memorabilia from all over Marie’s history, will be on display Saturday.
Related:
Marie's Riptide Lounge May Announce Its Final Last Call Soon