With both rents and hipsters increasing, I fled Logan Square a year ago. My new neighborhood of Albany Park is cheap and comfortable, but there aren’t many bars, due to North Park University’s pesky dry-campus rule. So when I make my way back to Logan Square to visit friends and gorge on Puerto Rican food, I always stop in for a drink at the Whirlaway Lounge.

Several new bars have cropped up in the neighborhood following the shift in demographics, but Maria Jaimes and her family have been running the Whirlaway since 1980, and it remains the perennial favorite of younger Logan Square dwellers. The Whirlaway is allegedly named after a lucky racehorse the previous owner bet on, his winnings allowed him to open the bar. At this point, though, the only name that matters is Maria’s: everyone knows Maria, and Maria knows everyone. Maria introduced herself on my first visit to the bar two years ago, and has remembered me (or at least done a good job of pretending to remember me) ever since. She goes the extra mile for her regulars, even providing a cake if they celebrate their birthday at her bar, and has become one of Chicago’s most beloved bartenders as a result.

The Whirlaway was recently revamped with a fresh paint job and new lights, and the resulting atmosphere is more cozy than divey: There’s a comfy couch in addition to bar seating, photo collages of regulars and sports pennants adorn the dark red walls. The bar also has a couple of big screen TVs, a rockin’ jukebox, and a collection of board games (including Connect Four and Boggle). It seems like I run into someone I know every time I come by, or at least recognize a few people in the pictures on the walls. Don’t expect anything in the way of fancy cocktails or draft beers, but there’s a diverse bottle selection (everything from Dos Equis to Blue Moon to Zywiec), and I was offered a choice of several different vodkas when ordering my signature drink (vanilla vodka, seltzer, and as many cherries as the bartender can cram onto a plastic sword). Better yet, my cocktail is always served in an adorably retro highball glass.

Feel like getting out of the house but want the comfort of hanging out in your living room? Go introduce yourself to Maria--she’ll make you feel right at home.  

Whirlaway Lounge, 3224 W. Fullerton, 773-276-6809 or whirlaway.net. 4 p.m.-2a.m Sun.-Fri, 4 p.m.-3 a.m. Sat.

Photo of Maria Jaimes (Bianca James)