Jaunted

Bars and restaurants had until January 1, 2008 to comply with the council ruling which restricts smoking to private residences. A Red Eye story suggested cigarette smoke was covering much more unsavory odors in bars all over the city, where eau de Camel beats eau de beer.

The Winners: Shops that can prove more than 80 percent of their revenue comes from smoking products, now the new mecca for the habit-formed and for which demand has spiked downtown. When Starbucks discovers this, they will want to implement a similar coffee ban to save their ailing stores.

The Losers: Actors, and fans of realistic theater. Since live performances were not exempt from the ban, the actors in the jukebox musical "Jersey Boys" were forced to stub 'em out in a hurry. (Yes, apparently Frankie Valli didn't get smoker's voice right away. Who knew?)

Now alderman Brendan Reilly is working to restore the smoking--even though one of his fellow city council members advised theaters to strike all references to smoking from scripts in order to comply with the ban.

Related Stories:
· Alderman Wants to Keep "Jersey Boys" Smoking [Chicago Sun-Times]
· Party Foul [RedEye]
· Chicago Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: dresmall]