LINCOLN PARK — Patrons of Devil Dawgs on Sheffield Avenue may have noticed that the hot dog stand is closing much earlier than usual these days.
It wasn't owner Alan Katz's choice.
This summer Katz changed his closing time from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. due to an ongoing dispute with neighbors. They argue the restaurant's late-night crowd, including intoxicated DePaul University students and other 20-somethings, was too noisy and that they left garbage everywhere, which led to cleanliness and security issues, among other concerns.
"It's basically ruining me. Now that we're closing at 11 p.m., there's nothing happening there. There [are] no crowds. The kids are in the bars and the bars don't close until 2 a.m.," he said of his restaurant, which is referred to as a "late-night staple" on Yelp.
"We want to do whatever it takes to keep the neighborhood safe, but not having the late night business is really killing me."
Neighbors started filing complaints with the city and Ald. Michele Smith's 43rd Ward office more than two years ago. That eventually led to a hearing with the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection in July.
At the hearing, an attorney with the city ordered Devil Dawgs, 2147 N. Sheffield Ave., to close earlier and make sure the picnic tables outside of the restaurant were put away regularly to prevent loitering, among other stipulations. So Katz changed his hours and plastered giant signs to his windows that read: "Please respect our local residents privacy & keep noise levels to a minimum. Open till 11pm everyday. No loitering."
But once neighbors started noticing that the picnic tables were staying out late — sometimes past closing time — the city slapped Devil Dawgs with a $1,000 fine and arranged another hearing. Katz said the city is forcing his restaurant to close for a full week in November.
Vera Elue, senior attorney for the city's department of business affairs and consumer protection, presided over the hearing Tuesday morning.
Elue said Katz agreed to the rules in July, which required Devil Dawgs to remove the picnic tables. She said the tables contribute to Devil Dawgs being a "hangout place," where "kids can make noise all night" and disturb neighbors.
"We're not trying to take your license away," Elue said. "We're trying to work with you so you do better. You [need to] comply with the law and not make your business a nuisance to the community."
Neighbors admit that the noise level has gone down since Katz changed his hours of operation, However, they maintain that Devil Dawgs is still a "tremendous" nuisance on the block.
Ken Guttentag, who has lived near the restaurant on Sheffield since 2000, said while he is "grateful for the tremendous progress so far," the area around Devil Dawgs is "still a mess."
"The picnic tables don't fit in this neighborhood. When they're there, people will come out of bars and come around the corner and hang out there. They sit on the curb," he said.
"I'm absolutely in support and sympathetic to anyone who wants to sustain a worthwhile business, but the noise and the pollution and the security hazard is beyond description. I can't even fathom [how] the neighbors directly across the street [feel.]"
Devil Dawgs moved into the location in 2009. Prior to that, a dry cleaning business and a flower shop called 2147 N. Sheffield Ave. home.
"It is not our intention that he closes. That was never our intention," said resident Wiliam Jaeger. "The problem we have is noise and incredible mess that disturbed us until 4 a.m. on weekends. We've been in numerous meetings for years and nothing was done."
Meanwhile, a Chicago Police officer said his district has received only three calls tied to the business in the last three months — and at least one of them was related to a nearby ATM machine, not the restaurant.
At the hearing, Katz agreed to remove the picnic tables by 9 p.m. every night, clean the area thoroughly, fix a flickering light bulb, attend community police meetings and continue to uphold the same hours.
While he said he'd comply with the neighbors' requests, he also said closing early is causing him to lose about $12,000 a month.
Katz described the outcome of the hearing as "not ideal."
"My issues are with late-night. I'd like to be open until 2 a.m.," he told DNAinfo Chicago.
He hopes that by spring, when the next hearing is scheduled, he will have proven to the neighbors that his business has addressed their concerns so they will allow him to extend his hours. If that's not the case, he said Devil Dawgs will likely find a new home when his lease is up in three years.
Katz runs another Devil Dawgs location in the South Loop, 767 S. State St.
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