Tag: christmas 2025

CHICAGO (WLS) — The owners of a North Side bar have organized charity drives and offered meals for those in need, including at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, neighbors are giving back after a break-in caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.

At Lakeview watering hole Olive Black, a community is stepping up. Days before Christmas, neighbors are lifting up this business that they say embodies the meaning of the holidays.

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“Coming together goes such a long way, and while there are a lot of lows in this world, there’s many, many more highs,” said bar patron Jeremy Bressman.

Community members organized a benefit night to support Olive Black days after the cocktail bar near Lincoln and Southport was burglarized.

“They broke the door open, and the very first thing that they hit was the ATM,” said Olive Black co-owner Wendy Prinn.

Surveillance video from last Thursday morning shows four thieves in masks and hoodies rocking the ATM until it unbolted from the floor. The group then carried it out of the business to a waiting car.

“They weren’t leaving without that ATM,” Prinn said.

But bar owner Prinn says what happened next left her stunned. The thieves stole donated presents from beneath the bar’s giving tree. They were meant for families in need.

“They didn’t even grab the bags and go. They just kind of shuffled through them to figure out what was in them and took what they wanted,” Prinn said. “Why are you going to steal from babies? And that’s the majority of what was there, is baby clothes and diapers and things like that.”

So, on Tuesday, neighbors toasted the bar and replaced those gifts that were stolen.

“We need to just take care of each other,” said bar patron Carol Ann Bliss. “Out of bad always comes good. Well, not always, but typically, and it’s just important to give back.”

“My community has always been amazing, but they’ve stepped up even more this year,” Prinn said.

Prinn says the break-in has shaken her sense of safety, and so neighbors have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for a new security gate.

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