He bought what had been a bar called Down the Street and simply put his name over the door; the sign out front reads 1972 as the founding year, though a couple of sources place it closer to 1974. Cunneen loved jazz, and regulars know the bar for 50-cent pool, an antique phone booth, and a glowing clock nicknamed "The Daley Clock" after Chicago's most famous mayor.
Cunneen died in 2022, and the City of Chicago posthumously renamed the block of Newgard Avenue between Devon and Arthur "Steve Cunneen Way" that same year; his widow has run the bar since. Independently corroborated across Block Club Chicago's "Essential Dive Bars" list, Time Out, TripAdvisor, and Foursquare.
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