Linda's Lounge

By midnight, the singer L’Roy will be standing behind this red-painted bar, wearing a red leather cap and crisp denim jacket, nodding approvingly at his Bullet Proof Band. Linda—the bar’s namesake and mother hen—will arrive, perhaps bearing bottles of sparkling wine and Crown Royal, giving warm hugs to everyone. Couples and friends will mingle around the pool table, snacking on bowls of chili, dancing to the rock and blues standards. It will all happen, just as it has every Monday since Linda’s Place opened its unmarked door on a bare stretch of 51st Street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood two decades ago.