Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include the names of long-time bartender Letty Johnson and co-owner Kartik Balasubramanium.
Christine Cabrera and her husband Eric Dennis never planned on owning a bar.
Brewing beer was just a hobby for Dennis, but his beer was good enough that friends started suggesting he open his own bar. So when the opportunity to look at PBS Pub — which had been on the market for several months — arose during the pandemic, they took it.
“We were nosy people stuck at home,” Cabrera said. Cabrera and Dennis have been living in the Wrigley neighborhood since 2006.
Although the bar was not in great shape and “smelled really weird,” on the day they went to check it out, Cabrera said they saw something special in the place. The back patio was a particularly strong selling point.
“We saw a place that we could turn into something for our neighborhood,” Cabrera said. In 2021, the couple, along with their long time friend Kartik Balasubramaniam, purchased PBS Pub and spent the better part of the year rebuilding it with the help of their family and friends.
Charlie Thompson, a Wrigley resident who has been a regular at PBS Pub since Cabrera and Dennis reopened it in 2022, said the bar is the kind of place he wanted to see in the Wrigley neighborhood for a long time.
“I’m not much of a wisher or a prayer, but I remember thinking like, ‘I want to just walk to a place where it’s a neighborhood place.’ So I used to wish for it,” Thompson said.
PBS Pub & Co. has a long history dating back to 1950, though there isn’t a clear picture of what the full history looks like. It’s had several names over the years, including the Dew Point Inn and Ryan’s Roost.
The name PBS Pub comes from Paul, Beth and Skippy who owned the place in the ’80s. Skippy was a dog who would often jump up on the bar and steal customers’ beers if they left them unattended.
The original iteration of PBS Pub served mostly Navy men. According to Cabrera, Paul and Beth had two colored chickens, one red and one blue, and patrons would bet on where the chickens would poop on a grid of numbered squares.
At one point, the bar gained a reputation for being a very rowdy place where people could do whatever they wanted.
“Our first year was awful,” Cabrera said. “People were still grappling with [the fact that] this is not the same bar.”
To undo that old reputation, Cabrera and Dennis incorporated more themed events at PBS Pub. Their most recent have included an ’80s prom night, a Wrigley pub crawl and a fundraiser to support female veterans.
Letty Johnson has been a long-time bartender at PBS Pub — before Cabrera, Dennis and Balasubramaniam took over. Cabrera said they eventually rehired Johnson and made her a part-owner of the pub.
“She has been critical to the pub’s success,” Cabrera said in an email.
They’ve also worked to expand the beer selection. PBS Pub has one of the largest curated beer collections in the city with roughly 70 beers available at a given time, including 27 on tap. Several of those beers are kept in stock because different regulars love them.
And Cabrera and Dennis know their regulars: they always have Miller Lite for Sunny, Miller High Life for Thompson, and the kiwi strawberry Jiant Hard Tea for Jose. Another regular, Dr. Bob, loves the Beachwood Hayabusa so much that other PBS Pub customers know it as “the Dr. Bob beer.”
Dr. Bob also has a special chair and beer koozie with his name on it.
One year, for Thompson’s birthday, customers and staff came into the pub dressed as him, copying his signature navy blue vest and hat.
“My cousin Danny says I’m the mascot [of PBS Pub], but I think Bob is the mascot,” Thompson said.
Cabrera said some customers have even bought a house nearby because they appreciated the camaraderie.
“I love the community that we have collectively built,” Cabrera said. “That is why we are here.”
PBS Pub & Co., 464 W Willow St., is open Monday through Wednesday from 2 p.m. to midnight, Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to midnight.