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Embattled Siblings Bar to Close For Good, Manager Says

 The dive will give its last call May 21 after growing pressure from  aldermen and police.
Siblings Bar to Close
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WEST ROGERS PARK — Neighborhood dive bar Siblings confirmed it will close for good next week amid growing pressure from two aldermen and police.

Manager Chris Tobin said Monday the bar would give its last call May 21 before locking the door for the last time at 2 a.m.

The bar, which has been open for decades, recently became the center of a controversy after a 20-year-old man sought refuge inside the bar after being shot in an apparent gang dispute in December.

He survived, but the incident has since been used by police and both Evanston and Chicago's nearest aldermen as an example of what sort of activity the business — located at 2827 W. Howard St. across the street from the southern border of Evanston — attracts to the neighborhood.

In a coordinated effort among Chicago and Evanston police and Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), city building inspectors shut down the bar in January after finding problems with the building's electrical wiring.

Since reopening shortly after, Tobin said there haven't been any problems and he's tightened security.

"Nothing has happened on our end, but the city hasn’t stopped messing with us since" the first inspection, he said. "It’s been a joint effort — they were able to capitalize on the public’s outcry."

Now it seems officials are making good on their vow to close the bar permanently.

New Rogers Park police Cmdr. Thomas Waldera praised the impending closure of Siblings last week at a CAPS meeting as an example of a successful citizen-police effort.

Silverstein said at the meeting pressure had "slowly been building" in recent months.

The bar's owner, Sunil Mosa, couldn't be reached for comment on the future of the building. A bar would not be able to reopen in the space, however, due to a ward liquor moratorium Silverstein put in place when she took office.

James, who did not want his last name used, said he's been a regular at Siblings for more than 20 years.

"The bar has an attraction for good people and bad people," he said inside the bar Monday. "The bad people have won."

The 62-year-old man from Rogers Park said he and the bar's 20 or 30 regulars were discussing which bar they'd call home after Siblings' closes next week.

Tobin said the bar had been open for about 40 years. The bar's name changed from Captain's Deck to Siblings in 2000 when the business was sold to a brother and sister, he said. Since then, Mosa took over.

Seven bartenders, three bouncers, three DJs and a maintenance worker will lose their jobs, Tobin said.