"It's Nothing, Dear, Just the Weekly 2:45 a.m. Riot"

Yawn. Got woken up at 2:45 a.m. by two guys having a loud and lively conversation while pissing on my bedroom window. That's something that happens every few minutes most nights, along with the screaming, arguments, vomiting, and rampant petty vandalism. Just try to get back to sleep, say the police and alderman. If they break another window, give us a call. Ho, hum. But then I went outside and found this riot. That happens only every two or three weeks. Well, until summer comes, that is -- and then it's every few nights.

And you thought Chicago's Lincoln Park was a nice, quiet community! The 2200 block of Lincoln Avenue has 13 bars. Several nights a week, more than 1,000 drunk young people mill around this block when the bars all close at once. Come have a drink with us! Come vomit on the manicured sidewalks of our beautiful neighborhood!

This is about how much ruckus there is almost every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night on this block. The main difference is all the police, who responded to the fights. More often than not, there's not even one cop here. They've taken our detail, 1885B, and are having it spend more time at STATE and elsewhere.

(It's now 3:45 a.m. and they're still out there screaming, thanks in part to the extra 200 people that Joey Vartanian's MaxBar lets out, thanks to its late-night permit. Good thing Joey lives on Burling, where he can get some sleep.)

Responding police units (that I saw, anyway): 1822R, 1884, 1885D, 1812R, 1885F, 1832R, 1814R, 1811R, unmarked blue, unmarked wagon. Thanks, guys.

(See below for more from a different day.)